Golden Slumbers
by SwanCastielWinchester
Summary: FULL ON KLAINE Neighboring 6th graders Kurt and Blaine are best friends who think nothing can come between them, that is until they reach Freshman year. Blaine must choose between popularity and his best friend, whilst dealing with some surprise feelings
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hi, I'm quite excited about this fic and I would be forever grateful if you would spend a little of your time reading it and _ possibly,_ maybe reviewing it? **

**Title comes from The Beatles song!**

**This is a proper Klaine fic, although I do have a Seblaine fic as well, but KLAINERS KLAINE HERE :)**

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING YOU RECOGNISE.**

* * *

Kurt Hummel looked out of the study window and down at the the street below. He sighed at the huddle of children who sat by the side of the road, laughing in the blistering heat. They were all about 11 or 12, Kurt even recognized some of them from his 6th grade class. Even then they were the popular kids, the kids who played soccer at break and were constantly in trouble or receiving bad grades. Kurt had no idea why being stupid was a good thing, but he had to admit getting 'F's in every single paper did wonders for their popularity.

Ignoring the sounds of fun and friendship, Kurt went back to his drawing, shading his new dress design in midnight blue. He didn't have many friends, well that was an exaggeration, unless you counted his own dad, Kurt Hummel didn't have _any_ friends. The other boys bullied him for his voice and how he liked 'girly' things, but he didn't see anything wrong with liking singing, dancing and drawing, and as he was a boy they couldn't have _only_ been for girls' because surely then he wouldn't like them, he reasoned.

But long since he was first laughed at he'd come to realize that there was no getting around his unpopular status. It had just become uncool to like him. Kurt knew that not many people really had anything personal against him, the problem was that the people who did were the highest on the food chain and so everyone else just copied them.

His blue eyes danced back to the window. The fact was, that although he didn't like any of the people in that stupid little group, he would still die to be in it. He hated being lonely, not having anyone to sit with at lunch, anyone to talk to, anyone to stick up for him. He frowned, pinning up his drawing on the wall with the others.

School had only been back for a week, but it had been bad enough, he'd had his new purse (although his Dad tried to get him to call it a wallet) flushed down a toilet. Though he saw that as a success as it had nearly been his head. He'd also had his summer assignment stolen and used by his least favorite bully, Sam Danes, and had a bowl of coleslaw dumped on his, carefully hair-sprayed head. In essence Kurt Hummel had not enjoyed his first week of middle school.

Kurt looked at his watch, it was 2 o'clock. He headed down stairs, unsure of what to do for the next 3 hours before his dad got home from the Garage, as he was now old enough for his Dad to trust him at home alone. What he _really _wanted to do was go outside, but judging by the loud chatter and harsh laughter that was coming from the street, that wouldn't be a good idea. He wasn't one to walk into the lion's den.

Instead the brown haired boy decided to go out into the back lawn. Kurt loved this little space, it was fenced off one one side but on the other there was nothing, the house next to his had been empty for as long as he could remember and so the garden had almost become an extension of his own. Kurt ran his fingers through the lush, green grass, remembering coming out here to play tea parties with his Dad when he was younger.

He smiled looking back up at the empty house, who's garden he'd played in. It looked very similar to his house, made of brown-red bricks with big, paned windows, except there was a lot more ivy on the other house, it having not had a tender in so long. There was a also a cross hatched, ladder type thing, which he had asked his Dad countless times what it was called, but could never remember the answer he gave. Kurt had spent a lot of his childhood climbing us it and subsequently being told of by his Dad. That was a time when Kurt had been a little bit less wary with the state of his clothes.

Catching sight of a clump of daisies, he smiled, they'd been his Mom's favorite flower, bar the rose, and he'd loved to go out side and pick them for her and then make them into a little bracelet or necklace. A tear caught in his eye at the thought of how she would smile at the little gift, and he quickly wiped it free.

Kurt sat down by the patch of daisies, trying not to ruin his skinny jeans. He picked some, careful to do it low down the stalk, so they were big enough to slit the hole into. Happy with his selection of flower's – he had at least enough for a necklace – he lay his head back against a grassy bank, rejoicing in his freedom to be who he was without being laughed at for being childish or girly.

Something caught his eye as he fiddled with the stems of the flowers, not quite bothered to fix them into a chain yet. Kurt sat up straight and stared into the top left window of the abandoned house, he was sure he'd seen something. Someone. Carefully, he got to his feet, heading towards the window.

Kurt looked at the wooden cross-hatched structure, he hadn't climbed it in a while and didn't know if it would still support his weight, but it was the only way that he was going to get up to that window, to see who or what was up there. He looked down at his clothes, a pair of black skinny jeans and a dark blue shirt with a light blue bow tie, nothing too precious.

Tucking the daisies into his jean pocket, he stretched out his leg a little, checking he was actually able to move enough to do what he was going to do, and put his first foot on to the wood, experimentally, before putting another foot on and clasping on with his hands, thinking furiously of what this would do to his nails. When the structure did not collapse underneath him, he continued to climb up.

As much as people at school might call him one, Kurt Hummel wasn't a coward. He had courage, he just didn't see the necessity in showing that for the sake of it. Well that's what his dad told him. He looked down at the ground, he really wasn't too high, he thought that even if he did fall over he wouldn't really hurt himself.

Tentatively he lifted his head up to the wide window, in which he though he'd seen someone, he looked around, in anticipation, at the slightly dank, gray-white room. There was no one there.

Kurt sighed in disappointment, his nails had been wrecked for nothing. He was just about to climb down when a head popped up from the blind spot under the window ledge. Kurt screamed. Then nearly fell off. Then regained his balance. This was all watched by a horrified pair of hazel eyes, surrounded by the curliest dark brown hair Kurt had ever seen in his life. The owner of these raised himself to his full height, which was, admittedly, not much higher than before, and stood there flapping his hands, evidently, panicking.

Kurt laughed a little at the bewildered look on the other boys face, thinking how curious this was, the house had been empty for so long and yet here was this strange little...hobbit. He tapped on the window, near the handle, indicating for the other boy to open it. The strange curly-haired boy complied, whilst letting out a stream of apologies.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know who was there, I saw you in the garden...then I saw you climbing up so I didn't know what to do...I hid. Then I thought you were going so I took little look...I didn't mean to scare you!" He bumbled, going a little red as he did so. Kurt smiled at him, after all he seemed like a nice enough boy,

"That's okay," he said simply. "Do you...want to come out and play?" The other boys face lit up and he nodded a big smile on his face, he looked down at Kurt and his smile faltered.

"I think I'll take the stairs though, if that's okay?"

Kurt laughed again, nodding, glad that he'd found someone who didn't mind playing with him. He carefully started to dismount the strange wooden structure, jumping the last few feet to where the boy other stood waiting for him. He could see him properly now and looked at his clothes, and grinned goofily, they were both wearing bow ties, although the hobbit-haired boy's was an emerald colour.

"What's your name?" said the Kurt, curiously as they walked back to the bank where he'd been lying down before.

"Blaine Anderson," he answered, smiling. Kurt thought over the name and decided he liked it, _Blaine Anderson_ was a good name. "What about you?"

"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel."

"Elizabeth, but...isn't that a g-girl's name?" he whispered conspiratorially, and Kurt's heart dropped, maybe this boy was just like the others.

Blaine looked at the other boy's crestfallen face and frowned, "Well, I think Elizabeth is a pretty name anyway," he added, smiling and Kurt's face lifted, he had very pretty eyes, thought Blaine, especially when he smiled. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Kurt Elizabeth Hummel," he said, jokingly formal, offering Kurt his hand. Kurt laughed, making his eyes look even prettier, and took his outstretched hand.

"It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Blaine Anderson!"

They laughed for a minute, before sitting down on the grass. "Blaine, can I ask you something?" Blaine nodded and Kurt proceeded. "Why were you in that room?" The other boy looked at him, and crooked an eyebrow.

"Well, we just moved in and...that's my new room!"

Kurt smiled, "So we're gonna be neighbors?" he asked happily. "I live in that house!" he pointed to his house and Blaine, following his finger, smiled.

"I guess so."

They sat for a while, smiling and chatting, it turned out that Blaine had moved from Columbus because his Mom had got a new job in Lima and so he was going to go to Kurt's school now, but his brother was a junior at a boys boarding school in Westerville and his Dad was always on business trips, so mostly it was just him and his mom. Kurt told Blaine about his Dad, and how his own Mom had died, Blaine had said he was very sorry about that.

"What's that in your pocket?" asked Blaine, as they lay down on the grass, looking up at the sky. Kurt looked down in confusion, until he saw the daisies and remembered what he'd been doing before he'd met the curly haired boy. He blushed, he didn't want Blaine to think that he was girly or childish, or say anything mean like those other kids would do.

"They're daisies," he said eventually, avoiding those hazel eyes that he knew were looking at him. "I was going to make a daisy chain." he added, still not looking at Blaine.

Blaine looked at Kurt in surprise, they'd been talking happily about their families a second ago, what an earth had made him suddenly go all shy? Giving up with his guesses, he decided that the best way to find out was to ask. "What's wrong, Kurt?" he said quietly, leaning in towards the other boy.

"Well...everyone always s-says that that's really g-girly...and silly, and I thought that...well you'd think that...and then you w-wouldn't want to be f-friends," Blaine looked at the stuttering boy in surprise, feeling horrified as he saw a big fat tear roll down Kurt's cheek.

Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt, much to the boy's surprise, and hugged him. It was all he could really think of doing, it's what his Mom did whenever he felt upset. "I happen to like daisy chains," he said, smiling. "Even if they are girly!" Kurt looked up, hope filling his blue eyes.

"Really?"

"Really, really." Kurt hugged him back, feeling that maybe at last he had someone who understood him.

"Do you have enough for both of us?" asked Blaine, as they let go of each other and sat back down in their respective places, still smiling widely.

"Well I picked enough for a necklace, but we could each make a bracelet? I think there's enough for that!"

* * *

When Burt Hummel arrived home from work that day he looked all around for his son, resolving that, as he wasn't in the house, he must be in the back yard. He pushed the back door open and was about to call his son's name, when he saw a very unusual sight.

"No, not like that!" sighed his son, pulling the hand of another slightly shorter boy away from the line of daisies that were in his other hand. "Use your nail, if you try and put your whole finger through it then the hole will be to big and the chain will break." The other boy held his hands up to Kurt's face.

"But I don't have any nails!" he complained. "I bite them."

Kurt's face broke in horror at this statement. "Blaine Anderson," he said dramatically. "You must not bite your fingernails!" the other boy just laughed and rolled his eyes. "Well, how about I make the slits, and you just put it together?" Kurt proposed and Blaine nodded.

Burt smiled at the two boys as they quickly finished the two chains, of course, he had no idea who this other boy was, but he seemed nice, and Kurt didn't generally have anyone to play with who wasn't himself.

"There!" said Blaine as he attached his complete chain to Kurt's wrist, who smiled and put his on Blaine's wrist.

It was at this point Burt decided it was time to announce himself. "Hey kiddo!" he said, walking towards the two boys. Kurt got up with a cry of "Dad!" and ran over to hug him.

"Who's this then?" he asked, gesturing towards the curly-haired boy who was standing awkwardly, in a strange half bow kind of position.

"This is my new friend Blaine!" said Kurt happily. "Blaine this is my Dad." Burt thought the boy looked a little wary of him, but brushed that aside and offered out his hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Blaine." he said.

"It's nice to meet you too, sir," he said, politely, taking the man's hand.

"please call me Burt." Blaine just smiled.

Blaine and Kurt parted then, hugging and saying that they'd see each other soon, and of course they'd be in each others grade at school, and hopefully class. Kurt beamed the rest of the night, telling his father all about his new friend. Somehow he knew that him and Blaine would be best friends for years to come, and as for Burt, well, he'd never seen his son happier.

* * *

Kurt was especially careful when he got dressed the next day, he put on his favorite pair of dark blue skin tight pants and a baggy white t-shirt which had lots of drawings of eyes on it, with a red nearing-knee length cardigan. He looked at himself in the mirror, styling his hair eloquently, and immediately felt worried. What if Blaine didn't want to stay with him at lunch and break? What if he wanted to play with the 'cool kids'? He'd already told Kurt he liked soccer and football.

Kurt was still freaking out when he walked next door to pick up Blaine, as they arranged, so they could walk to school together and Blaine wouldn't have to be alone for his first day. He was about to knock when Blaine opened the door, smiling nervously, his hand running through the mad curls that surrounded his head.

They started walking, their middle school really wasn't too far from home, and Kurt grinned widely at Blaine. He'd never had someone who wanted to walk to school with him and it felt nice. Blaine looked around him in interest, as if there was something intriguing to be found in Lima, Kurt personally thought it was the most boring place he'd ever been!

"You have good fashion sense," said Kurt, looking at Blaine's light gray jeans, checked green shirt, suspenders and bow tie. "I like the bow tie especially." Blaine grinned, straightening out said bow tie.

"They're kind of my thing," he said grinning. "I like what you're wearing too." It was nice to hear someone say that they liked what he was wearing, most people told him he looked ridiculous and this was a very welcome change.

Under Kurt's instruction Blaine ducked his head low and crossed the street as they passed some of the less pleasant residents of Lima, with the explanation that 'some people aren't quite as excepting of people who look different around here'. Blaine had just nodded.

Kurt showed Blaine to the Principal's office, Principal West, telling him 'not to get on the bad side of the wicked witch of the west' Blaine had laughed but agreed. Having been welcomed and collected his timetable in record time, Blaine got back to Kurt to see which classes they'd be share.

"Well we've got most of them, all except you're taking athletics and Spanish this semester and I'm taking French and Performing Arts, but that's only our electives, that's pretty good!" said Kurt, grinning, they hugged before making their way to English, chatting happily.

* * *

It was last period and Blaine was trying really hard to stay awake. He'd had the rest of the day with Kurt, who'd been enough to keep him motivated and working, but now he was sitting in the back of his Spanish class and he really couldn't be bothered. He couldn't even read what on earth was being written on the board. He took out his glasses, he'd been trying not to wear them all day, he didn't want to give anyone a reason to pick on him and he preferred not wearing them anyway, they made him feel like his eyes were boxed in. But he could really do with staying awake.

Finally the bell went and he collected his books together shoved them in his satchel bag and pretty much ran out the room to find Kurt. He was waiting by Kurt's locker, looking anxiously around for the boy, when four quite burly looking boys approached him, he smiled and looked down, trying not to bring too much attention on himself.

"Hey, glasses!" said one of them, Blaine tried to ignore him – Kurt had told him that not talking to these kinds was the best way. "I'm talking to you, don't ignore me. I just wanted to say welcome!" Blaine looked up in surprise to see the boy standing with his hand out to shake, he stepped forward, ready to take the boys hand when...

"UGH, what the – " he spluttered, wiping the slushie off his face, the boy who had reached his hand forward shoved him into the locker and the group walked away laughing and fist bumping.

Blaine slid down the lockers and sat on the floor huddled in a heap until he heard Kurt's voice. "Blaine, Blaine are you okay? I'm so sorry!" he looked up at Kurt who was fussing over him.

"S'not your fault," he whispered, letting Kurt help him up and towards the boys toilets.

* * *

They didn't see anyone on their walk home and so Kurt took Blaine's hand in his and held it tight, Blaine looked up at him, tears steaming silently down his face. Kurt brought their entwined hands up to the other boy's cheek and wiped his tears away.

Life went on like this for Blaine and Kurt, and still they stuck together, the closest friends there could possibly be. It didn't matter to them that every other day one of them would get a slushie facial, or something equally horrific, because through it all they had each other. They played in their joint back yard, making daisy chains or having tickle fights, they had dinner at each others houses pretty much every night, they were two halves of the same person.

Kurt realized that not all the world was cruel, not everyone was as judgmental as the bullies in their school and finally that he mattered more to Blaine being popular. At least that's what he thought until they started their freshman year at McKinley High School.

* * *

**AN please review, it really means the world and would brighten my day. **

**I really hope you enjoyed, if people like it then I'll be sure to upload another chapter soon!**

**I am my own beta at the moment and so please alert me of anything major, I did check but I'm sure I missed something :)**

**~Swan**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN Thanks for reading and to checkmate14 for being my tree! I own nothing:)**

* * *

The first day of McKinley High School had been one of the scariest experiences in Kurt's life. It wasn't just the big jocks and dumpster tosses that were terrifying Kurt, no, he was more afraid that he was alone in his fight against those who bullied him.

"You didn't wait for me this morning?" he said to Blaine in confusion, as the other boy put his books his the newly allocated locker, it was the first time Kurt had seen him for a couple of days, which was in it's self unusual.

"Yeah, sorry," muttered Blaine turning around to face him. Kurt's mouth dropped. Blaine's hair was almost...neat. At very least it wasn't the shaggy mess of curls it normally was, it had been trimmed and smelt distinctly of hairspray.

"Your hair's gone," he gaped and Blaine looked at him irritably.

"Well done, it's called a hair cut," he retorted, stalking off down the hall. Kurt stood there utterly baffled. _Well, that came out of no where,_ he thought, watching Blaine go down the corridor with, what he assumed the other boy thought was 'swagger', although Kurt thought it looked more like a cat walk strut.

He sighed, deciding to allow Blaine some time to calm down from whatever the hell had gotten him so worked up, and picked up his bag before heading off towards English.

Kurt and Blaine were still in each others classes for the majority of their classes and so Kurt thought that he could find out what on earth the other boy's pissy fit had been about in their next lesson. He got to class, and realized that he was the last person to arrive and he stood at the front for a minute, brow furrowed in confusion as he looked for Blaine.

Then he saw him. Blaine was lounging at the back of the class, next to...Kurt did a double take. Sam Danes? What the hell was Blaine doing sat with their old Middle School bully?

Realizing that he had been stood at the front of the room for at least two minutes, Kurt took his own seat at the only desk that didn't have anyone on, right at the front. He just couldn't understand. Yes, he knew that some people grew apart as time went on and that they got new friends, but Blaine and him had talked about this not so long ago, saying that they wouldn't be those friends who got drawn apart in the school change. Had Blaine changed his mind? Kurt decided that he'd talk to him at lunch and that now all he needed was to make a good impression on his teachers, so at least someone would like him.

Blaine looked down the classroom, ruffling up his remarkably shorter hair. It felt weird like this, he much preferred the comfort of his big shaggy curls, but if this was what it would take not to be bullied then it was worth it. He watched Kurt's hand as it shot up into the air every few seconds to answer one of their teacher's questions. Blaine turned away from him. He'd made up his mind. He was going to try out for the football team, stop trying so hard at lessons and dress more like the other boys.

Admittedly he hated it, he hated not being himself, but he couldn't stand another four years of being abused and bullied, and maybe, once he was at the top of the pile he could stop people from picking on Kurt as well. He knew that Kurt would never do what he was doing, he was way to stubborn for that, but if Blaine was top of the food chain, then maybe he could ease the pressure on Kurt without the other boy having to change anything about himself. Kurt was perfect as he was.

The bell rang and Blaine picked up his bag, he hadn't even bothered to get anything out of it, and left, avoiding Kurt's eyes. "Blaine!" yelled a voice from behind him, he turned, Kurt's voice hadn't changed since they'd first met 3 years ago, and right now he looked and sounded furious.

"What do you want, Kurt?" Blaine asked, trying not to let on how much it hurt him to have to play along, rather than being how they had always been.

"Why are you being like this?" said Kurt, in askance, the pain evident in his voice, guilt consumed Blaine, but he shoved it back.

"Like what?" he said coolly.

Kurt's face crumpled. "You've changed your hair and clothes, and you're being all mean and sitting with...idiots" he said, glaring at Sam Danes, who was talking to a girl by the water fountain. Blaine sighed.

"I'm fed up Kurt, I don't want to be bottom of the pack any more, okay?"

"Oh, and so being friends with me is going to bring down your 'rep' is it?" Kurt said, angrily. "You know what, get stuffed, Blaine Anderson, _get stuffed._" and with that Kurt was off, running down the corridor, tears staining his cheeks. Blaine smashed his locker closed and walked over to Sam.

* * *

The rest of the day went tortuously slowly for Kurt Hummel, he felt like he had been there for a year rather than a couple of hours. When the bell finally went, he stormed out of the dreaded place he now hated more than anywhere else and began to run home. Tears were streaming thick and fast down his face. He just didn't understand it. They'd been best friends for so long and now what, Blaine just didn't want to talk to him anymore? Couldn't bear to be seen with him? Was Blaine...ashamed of him?

Kurt opened his front door, "Hey Kiddo! How was your first day at McKinley?" Burt called from the kitchen where he was reading the sports section of the paper. His son ignored him and ran into his room, slamming the door behind him. Alarm bells set off in Burt's head, this hadn't happened in three years.

Standing up, Burt put his paper back down on the Kitchen work top and headed towards the basement. He knocked on the door and heard a little "go away" from the other side, ignoring this sentiment, he pushed the door open and climbed down the steps.

"Kurt, are you okay?" he whispered, taking the crying boy into his arms.

"I-it's n-nothin'..." Kurt mumbled, he wasn't sure he was ready to tell anyone what was going on, seeing as he wasn't completely sure what had happened himself. Burt lifted his hands up to his son's face and held it there, wiping away the tears.

"Now I know my son and he doesn't cry about nothing, what's really going on here Kurt?" the boy just sobbed and his father resolved that he would give him a couple of minutes. "I'll go make us a cup of tea, then you can tell me all about it alright?" Kurt nodded and Burt kissed the top of his head before going upstairs.

Kurt watched his father go up stairs and smiled through his tears, at least he'd always have his dad, he thought. He heard the kettle boiling and then a knock on the door, then a mumble of voices. Kurt gave up on trying to work out what they were saying and just buried his head in his pillow.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs and the smell of tea and toast flooded into the room, Kurt moaned into his pillow, he hadn't had any lunch, someone had stolen his lunch money before he'd had a chance and the smell entering his room was amazing. A hand ruffled up his hair and a voice said, "You want something to eat?" Kurt looked up in surprise to find Blaine standing in front of him, holding a tray.

"Are you sure you don't want to save it for someone more popular?" said Kurt sarcastically, sitting up and crossing his arms and legs. Blaine frowned and sat, also cross legged on the other side of the bed, placing the tea tray between them.

"Look...Kurt, I'm sorry. But..."

"BUT WHAT BLAINE?" Kurt yelled, anger bubbling up inside him. He didn't need excuses.

"I don't want to spend the next 4 years of my life being tossed into dumpsters and slushied in the face." Kurt could understand that, he didn't want that either, but he would prefer that to pretending to be someone he wasn't.

"So...you would prefer to be popular than be friends with me?" he asked, not sure whether he wanted the answer.

Blaine sat there, unsure of what the answer was himself. "Kurt your my best friend and I-I don't want to lose that...but...I j-just can't be on the outside any more." And then they were both crying. Kurt understood the other boy, he knew how hard it was and maybe if he could save Blaine from that then it would be worth it. He'd never had a chance to be on the inside, but if that's what Blaine wanted, then he would bloody well let him.

Blaine took a bite of toast, ending up with crumbs all around his mouth. Kurt just laughed, putting the tray on his nightstand and reaching over to wipe the crumbs away with his sleeve.

"Well we'll always have after school won't we?" said Kurt, forcing a smile. "and maybe one day you'll be popular enough that it doesn't matter who your friends are." He doubted that, but the other boy's reaction made the lie worth while.

Blaine laughed pulling Kurt into a massive hug, wrestling him so they lay side by side with their heads on Kurt's pillow. "You know, I'll never find a friend like you, Kurt," he whispered, hugging the other boy tighter, he knew this wasn't something that other boys did, but as much as pretended, he wasn't like other boys and neither was Kurt, so he saw no reason to stop.

They lay there, arms and legs tangled together, lips turned up in little smiles, and that's how Burt Hummel found his son and his son's best friend an hour later. Curled up in bed, fast asleep.

* * *

Freshman year turned out not to be so bad for Kurt, he still saw Blaine after school and at weekends and they even talked a little at school, but not enough that any of the jocks would pull him up on it. Blaine was on his way up the food-chain, being the new kicker on the football team, and Kurt's trips into the dumpster were getting less and less frequent.

Admittedly Kurt didn't have anyone to talk to through most of the day, he spent lunch in the library, sneaking food behind whatever book he happened to be reading and the rest of the day trying to avoid eye contact with everyone. But it was all worth it for the smile that was ever present on Blaine's face, lighting up his eyes so beautifully. Kurt was sure that no one would ever mean more to him than Blaine did, he would do anything for his best friend.

It had been over a year since the argument between the two best friends and they were proud to say that they'd had nothing so serious since then. Sophomore year had brought untold popularity for Blaine, he was still on the football team and had every girl in the school after him. Kurt didn't know why, but he hated the way that girls fawned over his best friend, although it made him feel better that Blaine seemed to reject every single one.

Blaine was happy too, he had a nice balance between seeing his best friend and not being chucked into dumpsters or doused with slushies. He was also popular enough that he could stop most people from doing that to Kurt as well, although there were some slip ups, but he made sure those people paid for their mistakes.

The only thing he didn't like was the pressure he was under to get a girlfriend. Admittedly it wouldn't be _hard _to get one, it's more that he really just wasn't attracted to them. His team mates pointed to girls like Santana Lopez, on the Cheerios, and talked about how hot they were, but Blaine didn't see it. None of the girls in the school seemed beautiful to him, although he didn't tell anyone else that, he just went along with it. But there was only one person Blaine Anderson thought was beautiful.

"Kurt?" Blaine said, and the other boy jumped, hitting his head on his open locker as he stood up.

"OW...oh hey Blaine!" his smile at the appearance of his friend faded at the look on his face. "What's wrong?" he asked, slightly worried. The other boy's face quickly composed itself.

"ah, nothing, I'm good..." Kurt pulled a face.

"We've been best friends for four years, you think I don't know when something's wrong?" Kurt said and Blaine looked at him, as if deciding whether to say something or not. "I was just talking to Karofsky..." he trailed off and Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"And..." he said, trying to prompt Blaine into continuing.

Kurt knew this wasn't going to be good, Karofsky really didn't like him and made no secret of it. He spent most of his life shoving Kurt into lockers, and Kurt was sure it would be much worse if Blaine wasn't so high in the food-chain.

"He wasn't being very nice about you, he was calling you...mean words. And Kurt, I don't want to hear people talk about you like that, or even know that they think that. It-it makes me so...angry!" he seemed to try and calm himself down. "I think you should quit Glee."

Kurt looked at him in dumbfounded horror. Only recently he'd been accepted into the New Directions, the McKinley High Glee club and if he was honest, despite the peak in bullying, he had felt happier than he had in a long time. Whilst Blaine was sitting for lunch with his jock friends, Kurt had someone to laugh and talk with. For the first time he felt like he belonged and now Blaine was asking him to quit?

"What...why? There are loads of guys from the football team in Glee now, for god's sakes the damn quarter-back is there!"

"And do you know how they talk about them?" yelled Blaine, they were starting to turn heads now, but neither really noticed. "Maybe you don't care what people say about you, but I do. You're just making it so much harder..." he stopped, acknowledging his mistake. Kurt looked terrifying.

"Making what harder?" he said, with a calm sort of fury.

Blaine breathed in deeply, not completely sure how he was going to phrase this to stop Kurt from being mad, he looked at Kurt's face and resolved that it was a lost cause. More and more people were collecting in the corridor to stare at the two boys, everything was silent, no one even dared whisper, they were all anticipating Blaine's words.

"I try to keep people from saying mean things about you..." Blaine breathed finally, Kurt's expression did not change, and he tried to think of that positively. At least he didn't look more angry. "Like what?" said Kurt, stonily.

_Uh oh. _

Blaine's eyes widened, he knew he couldn't lie to his best friend, they had always told each other the complete truth. He really didn't want to hurt Kurt's feelings, but he had the odd feeling the other boy already knew what people were saying about him.

"That your gay."

The silence rang loud. Everyone seemed to have frozen. Kurt collected himself, standing a little taller and speaking loudly and clearly.

"So what if I am," he said and stormed off down the corridor.

Blaine stood their in complete shock as talk erupted all around him, he knew he had to find Kurt, find Kurt and talk to him. Tell him he loved him. There was no point denying it any more. He'd tried to tell himself that they were just really good friends, and that's why he cared about the boy so much. That's why his breath hitched every time he spoke. That's why his heart went crazy every time he smiled.

_Just because he's gay, doesn't mean he'd fancy _you. Said a nasty voice in the back of his head, Blaine growled at it internally, but he knew it was right. Just because he'd come out the closet it didn't mean that he liked Blaine, it just meant he liked boys. It just meant everyone in this school was going to abuse him even more.

The next thing Blaine remembered he was sitting on his bed, playing with his Star Wars covers, he hadn't changed them since he'd moved in, he didn't want to, he still liked Star Wars, and the only person from school who ever came into his room was Kurt. Blaine didn't even remember how he'd got home or what had happened after Kurt had left.

_Kurt. _

His chest twisted in pain, but the strange blank area of time had given him some realization, and as much as that in it's self hurt, he knew it was right. There was no point flailing after Kurt or telling him how he felt about him, because all that would happen was Kurt would break him, say he was sorry but he didn't feel like that about him. That they were just friends. And Blaine didn't think he could deal with that.

Besides, he'd heard what his other 'friends' thought about being...gay? But was he gay? He'd never been attracted to other boys, or girls for that matter. Only Kurt. So surely he wasn't homosexual or even heterosexual just...Kurt-o-sexual. Any which way he looked at it, it didn't matter, if the other jocks found out he was in love (he gulped at how quickly he was accepting this fact) with Kurt, they would eat him alive.

He thought of Kurt. He'd just announced he was gay in front of a corridor full of people, by tomorrow everyone in school would know and there was only so much pull Blaine had on the student body. Tomorrow Kurt was going to step into hell.

* * *

Kurt was sat on his floor, eyes wide open, staring at his Dior gray room. He remembered redecorating it during the summer break, his dad had given him some money to buy paints and whatever else he might need in return for Kurt helping out at the garage. He'd taken a protesting Blaine with him to Ikea, where they'd subsequently gotten lost, and ended up having a soft toy fight in the Kids section. Kurt laughed, remembering how the two of them had painted his room, ending up with paint all over there arms and faces and then their failed attempted to put the flat-pack furniture together.

Now he didn't even know if best friend would ever want to talk to him again. Something about the way he'd been suggesting it had made it seem so wrong, but Kurt couldn't help it that he liked boys. He couldn't help it that he liked one particular boy especially, but that was never going to happen.

_Why did he have to yell in front of half the school that he was gay?_

Kurt sat there, phone in hand, hoping beyond hope that Blaine might text him, tell him he didn't care who he was attracted to, he could fancy a girl, a boy, a bloody dolphin and he wouldn't mind, because they were best friends and best friends make it through every situation.

Both boys curled themselves up in bed, knees pulled up to their chest and tears trickling down their faces. Both willing themselves to tell the other how they felt, but knowing they wouldn't.

The next morning Kurt got up and dressed in less stylish and expensive clothes than he would normally for school and then packed a spare outfit in his school bag, anticipating the slushies that were sure to come his way, he didn't want to ruin anything he particularly liked.

Spraying one last round of hairspray he stepped out the house, being sure to lock the door after himself, and sifted through the keys on his keyring to find the one for his Navigator. Except he couldn't find it.

Kurt cursed, checking all of his pockets, before deciding that perhaps he'd left it in the house. He was just about to open the door when he heard the unmistakable click of the doors of his car unlocking. He turned around in shock, walking over to the drivers side and opening the door.

"Blaine?" he said, in disbelief, staring at the curly haired boy sitting in the passenger seat and jingling his keys. Kurt got in and took the keys off Blaine before sticking them in the ignition. "What the h – " he started, only to be cut off mid-sentence by his best friend, well at least he hoped they were still best friends.

"We need to talk," Blaine stated, and Kurt's heart dropped. Talk about what? How he couldn't be seen being friendly with him any more? How he thought he was disgusting and didn't want to talk to him ever again? Kurt's head was reeling by the time Blaine continued talking.

"I really couldn't care less if you're gay or not." Kurt's worrying paused and he tried to work out whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. "Wait...I didn't mean that like...It's just..." he took a deep breath in. "Kurt, you being gay doesn't affect our friendship, you're still my best friend...that is if you want to be! But the point is that I know just because you're gay it doesn't mean that you fancy every guy you see," _I know that a little too well_, he added in his head. "and...and...I was wrong. You shouldn't quit Glee, if it's something you enjoy, then you should keep doing it, I shouldn't have told you not to do something that makes you happy. You never complained about me being in the football team...apart from how sweaty I got...but anyway, what I'm trying to say is that...I'm sorry."

Kurt was crying. He hated himself for it because it was going to ruin all the effort he put into his moisturizing routine, but above even the worry of his facial condition, he felt over the moon that his best friend accepted him. "Can I hug you?" he asked and Blaine laughed and nodded, squeezing him closer and wishing it could mean the same to Kurt as it did to him.

* * *

**AN: So in love and they don't even know it :'( KLAINE HUGGLES.**

**I would love to hear what you think, so pretty please review!**

**I'm afraid at the moment I have a lot of revision and exams and so I'm not sure how regular updates will be, but hopefully they won't be too long!**

**Thanks to those who favorited/story alerted/reviewed.**

**WHAT DID YOU THINK OF KLAINE IN DANCE WITH SOMEBODY? I cried.**

**~Swan**


	3. Chapter 3

I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG. I LOVE YOU ALL.

* * *

Kurt pulled into the car park and got out his Navigator, he'd pretty much pushed Blaine out of the car a couple of streets back in order to save the boy's reputation, Blaine had protested but Kurt had told him to get out before he chucked him out. He walked to his locker, shocked that he'd got this far without being abused.

His hands shook as he did the combination on his lock, truly amazed that nothing had happened thus far. He opened his locker and gasped. Out of his locker flew countless slips of paper in varying sizes, he caught a few and read what they said, feeling like the floor beneath him had disappeared.

_Faggot._

_Burn in Hell._

_Unnatural._

_Cock slut._

_You disgust me._

Kurt turned, looking all around him, lost in a place he knew so well. Snickers resounded through the room as people looked at him, eyes full of hatred and pure revulsion. _You disgust me._ This had been all of them, they all hated him, were repulsed by him, thought he was an abomination because of something he couldn't control. He fell to the ground, his head swirling and his eyes admiring the varying handwriting on the notes.

A shadow crossed his face and he looked up just in time to be doused in five slushies. He cried out, his eyes burning and skin freezing, desperately trying to rid the stuff from his face so he could see. Well, if crying hadn't wrecked his moisturizing efforts, this certainly had. He thought, bitterly.

Kurt crawled away into a corner and just lay there, covered in corn syrup and shaking with the cold. He didn't know how long he was there, but after a while he just drifted off into unconsciousness, a place where he'd much rather be at the moment.

* * *

"Kurt?" A pair of strong arms grasped Kurt around his middle and pulled him to his feet, he tried to stand but his legs gave out and so the strong arms picked him up and dragged him off. "Guys...Guys! I've found him, he's in quite a mess." Kurt recognized the worried voice as Finn Hudson, the tall, good looking quarter-back who was also in Glee club.

"Oh my god, what the hell did they do to him?" said an angry voice and Kurt heard footsteps running towards him. "This is not happening. Those pricks.."

"No, Puck! Mr Schue said that when we find him we _all _have to go back," said Finn's voice, as he shifted Kurt in his arms.

"Dude, that's bullshit, I'm gonna go kick their asses." Kurt's eyes flickered, he could hear scuffling noises and then a resigned sigh. "Fine, but we're going to find those idiots once we've finished in Glee."

"You bet we are."

Warm air flushed against Kurt's skin as Finn carried him through into the choir room, he heard gasps of shock and squeals of horror. "Mr Schuester, we found him, he's not in a great way though, it looks like they super slushied him."

The room crowded around the dripping wet boy, as he opened a red, puffy eye. "M'sorry," Kurt mumbled, he would have cried but he was fairly sure he'd exhausted his tear ducts. A hand stroked his back.

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Kurt, it's not your fault, come on guys, lets give him some space," said Mr Schue, as he helped Kurt to his feet and supported him to a seat. "Do you want to tell us what happened?" Kurt shook his head, shivers coursing down his spine. There was only one person he wanted to talk to, only one person he wanted to reassure him, tell him it was going to be okay, but he wasn't there.

"I think we should take him to the nurse, he looks ill?" said a voice, unmistakably Rachel's.

"What about Figgins?" said another and soon suggestions were flying around the room, through which he could clearly hear Noah yelling 'kick their asses' angrily.

Kurt turned his head to find himself very close to Mercedes, his best friend within Glee club, she picked up one of the small slips of paper that had stayed on him due to the sticky nature of the slushie. The words were blurred, and her face contorted in her attempt to read it. "What are these?" she asked softly, but Kurt just shook his head. Mercedes raised an eye brow and unstuck another one from her friends hair. That one wasn't so smudged.

The whole room turned around and stared. Mercedes had screamed angrily and kicked the nearest empty chair, which skid across the room before crashing into a wall. "WHO THE HELL DID THIS TO YOU KURT?" she yelled. Mr Schue walked towards her, frowning, surprised by her utter insensitivity.

"Mercedes, yelling at Kurt isn't going to help anything, he's upset leave hi..."

"Read it." Mercedes thrust the piece of paper towards their teacher's hand, who looked at it warily, before taking it and reading it.

_Abomination._

The man ripped the piece of paper into little shreds and the room froze, no one moved nor said anything, they just stood there and stared. Everyone of them knew what had happened the day before and it didn't take a genius to work out what kind of thing the paper must have said to alleviate that kind of response from their usually very calm teacher.

The tension in the room was palpable, Kurt felt as if he could reach out and grab it and strangle it. He wished that he could turn back time and stop his friends from finding the stupid slips of paper, he just felt embarrassed that the people he held so close to him had to see the horrible things that other people had said about him. He knew it was stupid, and that it wasn't his fault, but he couldn't help it.

The silence was disturbed by the sound of the door swinging open. The whole room turned to see a sweaty, curly-haired jock, still wearing his athletics gear, storm into the room. The Glee club closed ranks around their friend.

"What do you want Anderson?" growled Puck, walking towards the boy menacingly. Blaine gulped, Puck was a lot taller than him and besides he really didn't want to fight anyway. Then Blaine heard the most needing and scared voice he had ever heard. "Blaine?" it said, pulling hard on his heart strings.

Blaine pushed past the Glee members, who grumbled but didn't fight him, until he reached Kurt, who was sitting, dyed red and sticky, on a chair, looking thoroughly miserable. "Haven't you guys done enough damage?" asked Finn, the anger evident in his voice, but Blaine ignored him and knelt down next to Kurt, who wrapped his arms around the other boys curly-haired head and started moaning and crying.

"Shh, shh, shh," whispered Blaine picking the boy up and sitting back down with him on his lap, he hugged him and stroked his arm, hoping to God none of the boys from football saw him. "It's okay, it'll be okay, I've got you," he whispered, trying to hold back his own tears.

The rest of New Directions looked on in shear amazement, they'd all seen the two boys talk on occasion, but none of them knew just how close they were - though it explained why Kurt would never hear a word against him.

"You weren't in Math and I was worried, but I thought maybe you went home ill, but then some of the guys in football were saying...they were s-saying.." he took a deep breath in, redoubling his efforts not to cry. "what they'd done to you...and laughing and calling you..." He couldn't help it now, he just let go and felt the warm salty tears drip down his face and into his mouth.

Blaine looked down at his best friend, he hated seeing him like this, the worst part of it was how unhelpful he felt. He had no idea how to stop the storm of tears flooding down Kurt's face and it was killing him. Then suddenly he was doing something he really hadn't expected.

Once there was a way, to get back homeward,  
Once there was a way, to get back home  
Sleep pretty darling do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby  
Golden slumbers fill your eyes, smiles awake you when you rise

Oh god. What was he doing? He was singing, he was singing to Kurt and Kurt was smiling through his tears at him. Well, at least he wasn't telling him to shut up, that was a good sign. He looked up in shock as he heard a guitar join in with his singing, and saw Puck strumming along a look of approval on his face, he nodded and Blaine nodded back.

Sleep pretty darling do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby  
Once there was a way, to get back homeward,  
Once there was a way, to get back home  
Sleep pretty darling do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby

Blaine kissed his best friends head as a beautiful smile graced the boy's lips and he was grinning, he was grinning like a complete idiot. Everyone had started singing along and he was smiling and crying, this was too much, he was fairly sure that is heart was going to explode with the emotions that were going through him.

Boy you're gonna carry that weight, carry that weight for a long time  
Boy you're gonna carry that weight, carry that weight for a long time  
I never give you my pillow, I only send you my invitations  
And in the middle of the celebrations, I break down

Kurt got to his feet pulling Blaine to his and now the whole room was dancing, singing and laughing. Blaine realized that he hadn't sang since middle school and even then he hadn't liked singing on his own, when his Dad had been around as a kid he'd always told him singing was for girls, that he shouldn't be doing it and punished him whenever he did.

Boy you're gonna carry that weight, carry that weight for a long time  
Boy you're gonna carry that weight, carry that weight for a long time  
Oh yeah, all right, are you gonna be in my dreams tonight?

Love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you,  
Love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you,  
Love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you,  
Love you, love you, love you  
And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love, you make, Ah

The whole group broke down into laughter, smiling at the boy that not long before they'd thought was just another insensitive jock, Puck even went so far as to fist bump him. There was really a lot Kurt hadn't told them. Everyone was clapping and Blaine felt happier than he had in a long time, he was sharing something special with a load of people he hardly talked to, but he knew that was about to change.

The look on Mr. Schue's face was ecstatic as he practically bounced over to Blaine, hope filling his eyes. "So..." he said, and Blaine stared back at him, grinning. "How would you feel about joining the New Directions, Blaine? You have a beautiful voice and we would be honored if you would join us!"

Blaine's smile faltered a little, he knew that the other jocks would be furious, but he loved what had just happened, he loved the chance to perform and have fun, it had been something he'd missed out on when he was a kid and after all. He looked around the room at the happy faces staring back at him, no matter how much crap they got, they stuck with it. They kept going back. They were closer friends than you found in any other club or clique and his heart ached with the want to part of that.

His head was spinning. The choir room was blurring a little and all he could see in his imperfect vision were Kurt's eyes. Kurt's beautiful, hopeful eyes and that's what did it.

Everyone was silent and Blaine suddenly realized he was taking way to long to answer the question, he looked away from Kurt and up to Mr Schuester, grinning.

"So," he said. "When do I start rehearsals?"

The room exploded into general excitement. The only person who wasn't screaming or talking was Finn, he was just staring stonily forward, but in their enthused state no one really noticed. Rachel had grabbed Blaine's arm and sat him down next to her, whilst Kurt was hugging him and Puck was eying him with the deepest respect.

"You know, I've been needing a male vocalist like you for some time now," she said matter of factly, and Kurt just rolled his eyes. "Whilst those we already have are good, they don't quite have the tone you have that will go so perfectly with my own voice, what's your range like?"

Blaine looked completely dazzled by the new interest taken in him by the very loud and bouncing girl. She had a very strange fashion sense, he didn't think he'd ever seen someone over the age of five wear an animal sweater.

"It's Rachel, right?" he asked, remembering Kurt's whining about the girl, she nodded grinning, and Blaine noticed that she managed to show every single one of her very white teeth. She was pretty, he guessed as she continued in her one sided talk, maybe if she didn't talk so much, but not as pretty as Kurt, he added. Still there had to be a reason that the quarter-back was staring at her like a creep.

Glee rehearsal had been fun, Blaine had got to know everyone's names and soon enough Kurt had almost completely forgotten about the incident from earlier, or at least he didn't mention it. It was so isolated in the little choir room, they seemed like such a family, bickering a little, but ultimately caring for each other no matter what people said about them outside of Glee Club.

Blaine had picked up some vibes from Finn and decided that being too close to Rachel wasn't such a good idea, he wasn't very keen on the glares even smiling at her got - but the girl was making it difficult by pretty much clinging on to him every time he tried to move or turn around. He didn't notice the death stare Kurt had been giving Rachel.

* * *

"So what do you think of Glee?" asked Kurt, poking Blaine in the ribs. The two boys were sat on Kurt's floor, attempting to revise for the math mock that they had the next day. Blaine looked up and smiled, his eyes softening a little with talk of something other than his impending doom via simultaneous equations. Kurt had been telling him off for his poor grades in class and he'd agreed that he would revise, but only if Kurt helped him.

"I like it," Blaine said simply and Kurt rolled his eyes, motioning his arms for his friend to continue. "Erm...well everyone seems really nice and fun, plus I like dancing and singing, though don't mention it to my mom."

Kurt smiled, he knew Blaine's parents weren't quite as open as his own dad about that sort of thing, they didn't like him playing with things that were too girly, so the boys had always saved looking through vogue for Kurt's house. He also knew that Blaine's mom wasn't really the problem, she'd love her boy no matter what. The worry was that she'd tell his dad.

Blaine looked back at the text book, a crease forming between his eyebrows as he tried to work out what on earth _x_ equaled. Kurt steeled himself and said the thing that had been bothering him ever since Glee. "So...what do you think of Rachel?" he asked, trying to hide how nervous he was for the answer. Blaine raised his eyes in surprise.

"She's...alright," he said lamely, deeply hoping this wasn't going where he thought it might be.

"I think she likes you," said Kurt, plastering a smile on his face and winking. _Oh God, did he just wink? _

Blaine went bright red and pulled at his collar and Kurt's heart sank. People went red when someone talked about their crush, didn't they? Oh my God. He fancies Rachel. Kurt was freaking out now, really hoping that of all the people Blaine could go out with it wouldn't be Rachel. "Does she?" he croaked eventually.

"Well, I guess she's very pretty," Kurt probed, ignoring the other boy's question. Blaine stared at him in slight disbelief, was Kurt actually suggesting he date Rachel? No he wouldn't...

"Yeah, I guess, but isn't she with the quarter-back?" he asked, trying in earnest to indicate to Kurt he really wasn't interested. All Kurt got out of it was that Blaine wanted to know more about Rachel's availability. And he thought she was pretty.

"Nah, they broke up...saying that they didn't exactly date for very long. So she's single." Blaine just nodded absently, trying to work out what on earth Kurt was getting at. "So I guess you two could maybe get toge-"

"Did she set you up to this?" Blaine wondered aloud, still trying to find an answer as to why Kurt was being like this. Kurt looked at him in surprise.

"No..." he said cautiously, hoping Blaine wouldn't ask the question he couldn't answer.

"Then why are you being like this?" _Nope, there he goes._

Kurt stared at the floor for a minute, trying to avoid Blaine's eyes because he knew that if he got lost in that warm hazel pool that he would say everything he'd been trying to keep from his best friend. "I just..." he breathed in, hoping this would be a realistic answer. "You know...want you to be happy with someone, I know you haven't dated anyone and I thought that I would let you know if you _were_ interested that you have a chance." God, even _Kurt _was commenting on his lack of a love life. "There's nothing worse than liking someone and being too afraid to admit it, because you're scared they won't love you back."

That hit home for both boys, and Kurt looked up in surprise at his own words. Bad move. Their eyes connected, both willing the other to know how they felt without the painful experience of admitting it or, what they felt to be, the inevitable turn down and heartbreak. Blaine thought he saw a glimpse of something in the other boy's eyes, something that made him believe, for a fraction of a second, that Kurt could feel the same way, but then Kurt continued talking.

"Well, that's how it is in the movies anyway."

The sparkle died in both boys' eyes and they looked back down at their math work, eyes staring and hearts aching.

* * *

A/N hope you enjoyed, PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW. I will write quicker with inspiring reviews, suggestions are goo too, because i only have a skeleton as to where this is going.

aw my boys, I'm sorry I have to do this to you :'(

I'm think I'll finish writing my other fic, Be Mine, before writing more of this, but that shouldn't be too long! LTT

-S


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry it took so long! *cries*

* * *

Blaine was very careful not to let any of his football friends find out that he'd joined Glee Club until it was absolutely essential. That absolutely essential time came in the form of an assembly. The second Glee Club assembly of the term, although this one was supposed to educate against eating disorders. As if trying to make it even harder for him to pretend that he wasn't in Glee, Mr Schuester had decided that Blaine would sing his own little solo in it.

It wasn't that Blaine didn't _like _being in Glee club, in fact the opposite was true, he was enjoying it more than he dared admit, it was just that it had taken so much work to get to the top and he didn't want to just throw that away. People respected him. Maybe he wasn't the nicest person in the world, he didn't stick up for people when they were being pushed around for no reason, but at least didn't join in with the abuse. He knew what it was like to be bullied and he didn't see why more people didn't do what he'd done – it was better than being smacked against lockers everyday.

They were back stage and Blaine was now officially freaking out. There was no way he could drop out now, but as soon as everyone saw him on that stage they were going to slaughter him. He gulped nervously, resisting the urge to throw up. His eyes darted madly to the door as he heard Figgins boring the school with some talk of how no one should feel the need to puke their guts out because they were already perfect. He was so stressed he couldn't even appreciate the irony that Coach Sylvester and the cheerios were in that same room, listening to that speech.

On one of their once-every-2-seconds visit to the door, Blaine's eyes met Kurt's. Their blue calming him somewhat. "You're going to be amazing, you know," he said softly, clasping the other boy's hands in his own, briefly before letting go and blushing. "You don't have to worry about it."

Blaine smiled at him, appreciating the attempt to hide what this was really about. "We both know that this is nothing to do with my performance."

"You can't blame me for trying," Kurt shrugged, before walking over to take his place on the stage.

The curtains seemed to take forever to rise. But there was no going back now, no hiding; he was going to do this.

"The McKinley High New Directions!" There was a vague smattering of applause and Blaine could hear Miss Pillsbury, the school councilor, over everyone else, yelling 'yay, Glee!'. At least he was facing away from the crowd and hidden behind the other boys, but that safety wasn't going to stay for very long. Soon everyone was going to see him and he wasn't sure how ready he was for that.

Music started to play and the protective group of boys surrounding him split, he was exposed to the whole school. The lucky thing was that most of the audience wasn't paying any attention to him and those who were, didn't seem to realize who he was. Well that wasn't going to last, he thought, as he started forward for the first part of the song.

Made a wrong turn  
Once or twice  
Dug my way out  
Blood and fire  
Bad decisions  
That's alright  
Welcome to my silly life

Okay...so now people were staring at him. People were whispering and pointing at him, but they were also nodding heads along appreciatively, he tried not to think about it as Rachel stepped out to take the melody from him and he took the harmony.

Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood  
Miss "no way it's all good"  
It didn't slow me down

Mistaken  
Always second guessing  
Underestimated  
Look, I'm still around…

As irritating as he found the girl, he couldn't deny that she had an incredible set of lungs on her, though he wished Kurt had been singing with him. Mr Schue had originally paired the two boys singing the song, but Kurt had given his solo to Rachel, something Blaine knew he would not do normally. Kurt was giving up one of his rare solos to save him. The whole of the group joined in for the chorus.

Pretty, pretty please  
Don't you ever, ever feel  
Like you're less than  
Less than perfect  
Pretty, pretty please  
If you ever, ever feel  
Like you're nothing  
You are perfect to me

It was back to him and he just tried to enjoy the moment, damn the consequences, if he was going to do this and get hell later on, he was at least going to give it his all.

You're so mean  
When you talk  
About yourself  
You are wrong  
Change the voices  
In your head  
Make them like you  
Instead

Maybe it would be better if he wasn't singing a song by a girl, he thought, as he ran off and behind the new directions boys, ready for his rapping solo later on, the part that he was most worried about.

So complicated  
Look how big you'll make it  
Filled with so much hatred  
Such a tired game  
It's enough  
I've done all i can think of  
Chased down all my demons  
see you same

As Rachel finished her second solo and the whole group started up on the chorus, Blaine remembered what Kurt had said about Rachel being interested in him, the thought of being with the girl like _that _made him feel a little ill, yes she was talented, but she was no K-...he pushed that thought away.

Pretty, pretty please  
Don't you ever, ever feel  
Like you're less than  
Less than perfect  
Pretty, pretty please  
If you ever, ever feel  
Like you're nothing  
You are perfect to me

The group split so he could come forward for his next solo. Rapping. He had almost begged for someone else to do this part, but Mr Schue wasn't having it.

The whole world stares while I swallow the fear  
The only thing I should be drinking is an ice cold beer  
So cool in line and I tried tried tried  
But we try too hard, it's a waste of my time  
Done looking for the critics, 'cause they're everywhere  
They don't like my genes, they don't get my hair  
We change ourselves and we do it all the time  
Why do we do that?  
Why do I do that?  
Why do I do that?

Ooh, pretty pretty pretty,  
Pretty pretty please don't you ever ever feel  
Like you're less than  
Less than perfect  
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel  
Like you're nothing you  
Are perfect, to me  
You're perfect  
You're perfect  
Pretty, pretty please don't you ever ever feel  
like you're less then, less than perfect  
Pretty, pretty please if you ever ever feel  
like you're nothing you are perfect to me

The crowd was on it's feet, everyone was cheering and clapping, the hall was going crazy. They had done it. They had sung in front of the entire school and not had things thrown at them. Okay, so maybe the crowd was going a little too crazy and he was fairly sure they weren't supposed to be climbing onto the stage like that. He stepped backwards and tripped over his shoe laces, landing flat on the ground. He looked up "KURT!" he yelled, struggling to stand back up as feet trampled all around him. Blaine couldn't see the other boy, he just hoped that he was okay, he wouldn't be able to bear it if anything happened to him. He lifted his head up. _Crack._

Kurt's eyes flicked over the rampaging crowd searching desperately for Blaine, he'd been in the midst of the rampaging crowd and Kurt had no idea what had happened to him, he'd heard him call but after that he'd had nothing. A scream of pain chilled his spine.

"Blaine?" he yelled desperately, pushing through the dwindling crowd, eyes trained for any sign of his best friend. "Blaine! Where are you?" A rough hand pushed him to the floor, a voice snickering behind him, as he gasped in pain.

"Looking for your boyfriend, homo?" the boy jeered, as laughter echoed behind him. They left, foot steps reverberating throughout the room Kurt stumbled to feet, wiping his eyes free of the tears starting to collect. "Blaine?" he whispered, heart breaking when only silence returned his plea.

Kurt walked towards the exit, forehead creased with worry, deciding Blaine must have left without him noticing. That was the only explanation he could let his mind think of. He let the tears storm down his face as he looked at the deserted room, he opened the door, but something wouldn't let him leave, something told him that he shouldn't open that door and leave the room. He paused. A moan sounded from beneath the stage. Kurt didn't even pause to think, he just ran, eyes trained to the spot where the sound had emanated from.

A bundle of clothes came into sight. "BLAINE?" he yelled, speeding up. "Blaine, look at me, are you okay?" he took the other boy's head in his hands and turned it to look at him. Blood. Kurt gasped, horrified. Blaine's face was dripping with blood, his once white shirt now stained with red. He tried to pull away, but Kurt held him there tight. He took out a pack of pocket tissues and dabbed gently at the blood, but more kept coming. Blaine winced. His nose was crooked and misshapen.

"We have to get you to Mr Schuester," he said, attempting to pull the other boy to his feet as he shook his head vehemently. "Blaine, it looks broken, now come on." Kurt's face cracked, eyes spilling with more tears, Blaine's heart ached. "Please?" he whispered. The other boy nodded and let Kurt pull him to his feet, those eyes could make him do anything.

Mr Schue took one look at the bloody state that was Blaine face and took out his car keys, driving the two boys to the emergency room at the local hospital. The three of them sat there for an hour before anyone could see them, the doctor sat Blaine down and painfully prodded at his nose.

"It's definitely broken," she said, eying the two boys and their teacher with a scrutinizing glare, paying special attention to Kurt. "You'll need to get some x-rays done to evaluate the full damage, but it's not looking like a clean break, could take some work."

Blaine sighed, allowing the doctor to lead him off into a little room to take the x-rays. His dad was going to kill him, it wasn't that his family was poor, but his father was extremely stingy and having to pay for his son's medical bills because of an injury gained through _singing, _definitely wasn't something he would want to do. Maybe he could lie about it.

He walked through the clinic back to the room in which Kurt and Mr Schue were waiting for him and opened the door. "BLAINE!" his mother launched herself at him, hugging him tight as he winced and attempted to keep his nose away from her. "I was so worried, the school called to tell me what happened but I was at your grandparents..." Blaine gulped at the mention of his only remaining extended family, they were his father's parents and they lived out in Westerville, where they ran a private school called Dalton Academy. It had belonged to his grandmother's family, the Dalton's, and been passed on to the two of them. Both his grandparents and his father, an alumni of the school, wanted him to go there instead of some school in Lima, but his mother, luckily, had refused as she wanted him close to her and didn't like the idea of sending him off to board.

"But thank God you're okay," she smiled, stroking the side of his head affectionately. "I think you should take tomorrow off honey and maybe Friday too, Andrew won't be coming home until Tuesday night, he's got that big conference he was always talking about." Blaine breathed out slightly at the mention of his father's absence, there was no way he was going to stay home for four days whilst he was there.

Blaine left the hospital with Kurt and his mom, the latter drove both boys home. The car was oddly quiet. Having the two boys together usually meant a constant explosion of excited chatter, but the drive was just an exchange of sly side glances, when each thought the other wasn't looking. Blaine didn't know what he was going to do about Kurt, sometimes the way that the other boy looked at him made him wonder – why was it so preposterous that he could feel the same way Blaine did for him?

Kurt kept his eyes fixed out the window best he could, but they always seemed to gravitate back to Blaine. He was so stupid for thinking that he even had a chance with Blaine. The boy was beautiful, so smart he had to make an active effort to do badly in lessons, kicker of the football team and overall mister popular. There was no point moping over him, everyone else wanted Blaine too and everyone else had a better chance, because they were actually girls. Blaine wasn't gay and he wasn't interested in him, nor would he ever be and Kurt just had to deal with that.

He felt his eyes moisten and kept them fixed out the window once more, he couldn't afford to let Blaine see him like this. He couldn't afford for him to ever find out. He couldn't be his boyfriend, but he still wanted to keep his best friend, because, although it would hurt, it would be nothing in comparison to what it would be like if they stopped being friends completely.

The car pulled into the Anderson drive and Kurt jumped out, briefly thanking Mrs Anderson for the lift and sprinted off towards his own house. She watched him go, a sad smile on her lips. The two of them were just as obvious as they were blind, but maybe that was favorable considering the small town ways of Lima. She just wanted her boy to be happy. It was only then she noticed a sleek, black Mercedes parked nearby.

Burt took one look at his son as he opened the front door and felt his heart shatter into tiny pieces. He was a state, his normally perfect coif was disarrayed and what looked like mascara was dripping down his cheeks. "Kurt? Kiddo, what happened?" This happened far more often for his liking, he should have a look into that school of his. He enclosed the pale, shaking boy in a tight hug, shushing him gently.

The man hugged his son until sunset, when the boy pulled back and stared woefully, his eyes finally dry. "Dad..." he whispered. "I l-love...I love him."

"I know you do, kiddo, I know." It was obvious, the way he looked at Blaine was how he'd looked at the boy's mother before she died, he had no doubts that this was more than just a high school crush. He'd also seen how Blaine looked at Kurt, the Blaine was like a second son, he knew him better than the boy's own father did. There was no way in hell he didn't feel the same way.

"But what am I supposed to do?" he asked, fresh tears spawning in his eyes – Burt could swear it wasn't physically possible to lose so much water and still be alive.

"Why don't you just tell him?"

Kurt stared at his Dad as if he was insane; he had to be to come up with a plan like _that_. The man just stared back sincerely. "You are joking, right?" he asked and Burt just rolled his eyes.  
"How do you know he doesn't like you back?"

"He's not gay."

"Has he ever said that?"

"Well no, but..."

"But what?" Kurt pulled out his queen bitch glare.

"_But," _he said, lengthening the word out in order to think of what to say next. "He would have said something if he liked me."

"Have you said something?"

"No..." his father just looked at him with a superior smirk, knowing his son couldn't fault his logic – especially because, deep inside, he didn't want to.

"Kiddo, I've seen how he looks at you, you have nothing to fear," the two of them smiled at each other, warmly. Kurt didn't love anyone as much he loved his Dad, God was he going to get a good father's day present if this went well.

Kurt Hummel slept soundly, lids closed peacefully and lips gently parted, the only sound was the light breathing issuing from between them. Blaine lay curled up in bed, eyes wide awake and staring, hands clenched tightly over his ears to block out the sound of shouting. His Dad's flight had been canceled and school had taken it upon themselves to call him with information of his son's 'singing' injury. He'd grabbed Blaine's collar and pushed him against the wall, spit spraying from his mouth onto the boy's face.

"SINGING?" he'd roared, eyes bulging and bloodshot, evidently his plane cancellation had provoked drinking. "What are you, a fag?" Blaine shivered in his bed at the memory, shaking his head as he had back then.

"If I ever find out you are a disgusting little cock-slut, I will beat it the shit out of you."

His words echoed in Blaine's head, as a scream erupted from the living room. A shiver rippled down his spine and tears sprang to his eyes.

* * *

Poor Blainey baby :(

hope you're all surviving the summer break D:

please drop a review:)

thanks for those who are following this considering 1)how crap i am at uploading and 2)how early on it is

YOU ARE TOTALLY AWESOME 3


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey Guys, you have no idea how sorry I am it took me this long, thank you for not unsubscribing. I promise, never again will I take so long.**

**I have been sososo busy, I've had exams and then quite a long and tedious personal problem to deal with.**

**Please, please read.**

**Quick recap since it's been so long, cutting out almost all plot. [DON'T READ IF NEW TO FIC] **Kurt + Blaine bezzers in middle school, go to McKinley Blaine becomes all 'cool', but they're still friends and in glee. But then Blaine's dad heard he was in glee, got very angry, Blaine heard his mom scream. (that makes it sound so bad, I hope it's not that bad).

* * *

Kurt hadn't seen Blaine since the assembly catastrophe He'd gone around on the Saturday with Burt, but halfway up the drive his father had seen something that had made him change his mind and pretty much drag his son back into the house. Kurt didn't know what it was and his father wouldn't tell him, all he said was "now isn't quite the right time, just wait a little while". The boy now stared at his front door, before he had been verging on eager to tell his friend how he felt, but now the excitement had gone stale and the worry had set in. His stomach churned at the thought of school, it definitely hadn't been a positive experience without Blaine there, it made him realize how much the boy did to protect him. There was no protection from the slushies and dumpster tosses on, Thursday and Friday had been a fresh reminder of the hell that he would go through without him.

He glanced nervously around the classroom, mouth dry with anticipation. Monday, first lesson: math. He hated math, it allowed for no creativity or originality, and those were the two things that summed Kurt Hummel up. He took his seat, Blaine hadn't arrived yet.  
"Oi, homo," he turned, he'd got used his new name, and turning was better than ignoring it, he'd learned that from experience. "Where's your boyfriend?" Kurt's stomach leaped a little at Blaine being referred to like that, even if it was derogatory.  
"I don't know," he replied, shortly, turning back to face the board as Mr Ryans wrote up the date and the bell began to sound. Blaine didn't arrive that lesson.

* * *

Blaine sat cross-legged in front of his mother, he was still convinced that she should have gone to the doctors, but she maintained that she was fine, just like she maintained that she'd tripped and hit her head on the coffee table. This wasn't the first time Blaine had seen his father get angry, but it was the first time he'd ever been threatened by him, and it scared the hell out of him. After he'd heard his mother scream Blaine had gotten up and stormed into the living room, where his mother lay curled on the floor crying, as red stained the floor. "Leave her alone!" he'd yelled, body shaking from a mix or rage and terror. His father hand turned to him, eyes blazing.

His hand subconsciously rubbed the bruise on his collar bone. "Mom," he whispered, he felt his heart clench as she flinched at the soft noise. "You need to go to a doctor..." he shushed her as she began to protest. "Then we can leave, we can leave him. Run away, change the locks...I don't know, just something! We need to get out." But nothing he said could convince her, she told him that she could never leave him and that, although Blaine might not understand why, that rather than fight he should just make it easier for himself and her. He nodded, knowing what he had to do.

Blaine walked away, taking out his phone and scrolling down his contacts before clicking one and pressing call. It had all been going so well.

Getting ready for school the next day took even longer than normal, he took out the black skinny jeans and white v-neck, as well as his Letterman jacket. He was dressing to impress. He took the car keys and got into his car, noting as he pulled out of the drive that Kurt's car had already gone.

The drive to school seemed to take very little time and as he parked he felt a churning sensation in his stomach , it was the first time since his first day he'd been worried about coming to school. He got out, slamming his door behind him and raking the car park with his eyes.

Blaine's eyes alighted upon pale skin and blue eyes, his target. He walked forward, eyes fixed on those blue ones and hands clenched and sweating. Something told him he shouldn't do this, but he knew he had no choice. This was for the both of them. His hand reached into the soft brown hair, caressing it slightly as he lent down to the puckered lips, which tipped up to meet his. He was trapped in an embrace, he had no idea why people were so obsessed with this, to him it felt sloppy and uncomfortable. A tongue swiped and he opened his eyes and mouth in shock, allowing it entrance to his mouth. But that no longer concerned him, his open eyes had found someone else's in the car park crowd, but, with a dramatic turn, the tear filled eyes had gone. _Kurt _shouted his mind, as he watched his best friend's head disappear into the crowd. The kiss broke and he looked down at the short skirted cheerio, wishing she hadn't been his first kiss.

* * *

Kurt had never run faster in his life, and yet still, it wasn't fast enough. He kept telling himself he had no right to be upset, it wasn't like he had been dating his obviously straight best friend. He was just delusional enough to have convinced himself that Blaine reciprocated the feelings he housed for him. That was his own fault not Blaine's. But why hadn't Blaine told him? They were best friends and yet he hadn't trusted him enough to tell him that he had a girlfriend. How long had it been going on? Was that why he had objected to being set up with Rachel? Kurt sighed, heavily, slumping down onto his desk. It was going to be a long day.

The lesson ended and Kurt found himself staring out of the window, eyes glazed and vacant. His English teacher patted his shoulder, making him jump a little. He realized where he was and began to scrape his stuff together, slightly panicked. "I'm sorry Mr Knightly I didn't mean t-"  
"It's okay, Kurt," his teacher interrupted, forehead stitched in worry.

Mr Knightly was Kurt's favorite teacher, he was handsome with dark blonde hair and big brown eyes, his oversized glasses and elbow patches looked a little odd with his obviously young face. Kurt thought it might be an attempt to prevent students from swooning over him, but he still thought the man's pale skin and English accent were adorable. Kurt had to be thankful for Blaine, because otherwise he was fairly sure he'd have a full blown crush on the man - even if he could see the glittering golden ring on his left hand.

"But are you okay? You were out of focus pretty much all lesson." Kurt shook his head, biting down on his lip to prevent himself from crying. "Is it Blaine?" Kurt cricked his neck he looked up so quickly. Mr Knightly laughed, rolling his eyes as he sat down on the desk across from Kurt's. "Just because the rest of the school's blind, it doesn't mean I am," he teased and Kurt blushed, furiously.  
"Am I that obvious?" he whispered, eyes cast down in embarrassment.  
"No," his teacher answered thoughtfully. "But I know you Kurt, and of I couldn't tell from you I'm sure Blaine would have revealed all, you're much less obvious than him. So what's going on?" he stood up, walking towards the door and signaling for Kurt to follow him.

The two of them walked side by side in silence, waiting for Kurt to explain his predicament. Mr Knightly was quiet, waiting for Kurt to speak. The boy was easily his best student and he worried about him in such a closed-minded school like McKinley High. He hated being here himself, knowing that people looked down on him and it was even worse for Kurt. He himself had been bullied in school and there had been no teachers for to talk to, no one who'd believe him. He couldn't let that happen to Kurt too, the boy reminded him so much of a younger him.

"Blaine and I had been best friends since middle school, we move here and suddenly he gets all "cool". He still talked to me, we were still close." Mr Knightly nodded, Kurt was telling him why he already knew, but there was one thing that had changed.  
"Kurt, this is all in past tense?" he questioned, forehead so clenched that his eyebrows had met in the middle, Kurt nodded, sadly.  
"I've always felt...more than he did," he swallowed before continuing. "But I'd convinced myself that he liked me back and then..." Kurt was cut off by a chorus of cat calls, as a large group of jocks and cheerios came into sight. Two of them were crushed against the wall, almost violently, as the others laughed and whistled. A lump formed in Kurt's throat. "Well," he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I suppose that was simpler than me telling you."

Kurt stormed off, leaving his teacher staring, shocked, at Blaine locked mouth to mouth with some tall cheerio. His face fell, finally understanding the full gravity of Kurt's situation, better, possibly, than even Kurt did. His finger toyed with the golden band as he entered the classroom, sitting down at the desk and sighing heavily.

* * *

Kurt didn't seem to be able to go anywhere that week without having his vision affronted with Blaine's new PDA habit. On the Friday he'd decided to take his study period into the library, a Blaine-free area nowadays, since reading became too uncool for him to go anywhere near it. However, apparently the library still had it's uses to Blaine, the bookshelves seemed to be great things to make out against, judging from the immense noise the two were making. Kurt had heard the two come in and hidden in the back, which ended up being just behind where the two had found themselves sucking-face. Then he was stuck there, listening to them moan into each others mouth's, Kurt's teeth were clenched, forcing back the tears that were threatening to spill. He stumbled backward, tripping over his own feet and falling against the bookshelf, with an almighty crash. He heard the terrible plunging sound of a broken kiss, before two people appeared in front of him.

"Lady Hummel?" laughed the girl, her eyes full of disgust, Kurt could feel the sarcasm bubbling in his chest.  
"What are you doing?" asked Blaine, a slight crack in his well kept armor, but the confusion quickly hardened to mirror the girl's expression.  
"Isn't it obvious?" she drawled, eyes glinting maliciously. "He's just a pervert, creeping around watching people making out, probably gets off to it when he can. Let's give him something to really push him." She clasped her mouth around Blaine's, thrusting her tongue in and grasping the back of his head with one hand. The other hand began to wander lower and lower before slipping between his underwear and groping him roughly. Kurt wanted to throw up and he wasn't the only one, Blaine felt violated, trapped. He couldn't stop her, he had to pretend he liked it. Thankfully the hand was removed after she realized there was no reaction, no enjoyment.  
"Hope you liked that, you sicko," she laughed, caressing Blaine's face and planting kisses on his jaw. "Maybe you'll get more one day."  
Blaine just stood there, trying to resume his composure, but still feeling horrific inside. He hadn't wanted that to ever happen, especially not in front of Kurt, but he couldn't just apologize and get on with it. He had to protect them both.  
"Blaine?" whispered Kurt, his voice imploring, but Blaine didn't crack. He couldn't let himself crack, he had to give Kurt a reason to never want to talk to him again.  
"Leave me alone," he took a deep breath, building up the venom before adding "Freak."  
Blaine Anderson had never felt more disgusting, as he walked away hand in hand with a monster.  
Kurt Hummel had never felt more alone, as he slumped against the bookshelves with tears in his eyes.

Kurt closed his eyes, taking himself away from the library, from McKinley High, from the closed-minded town of Lima, Ohio. He was in New York, where he belonged. Where people didn't look at him with disgust, where crowds flocked because they heard a rumor he was in New York, where people listened to what he had to say, to the words that he sang. He was on a stage, with thousands of people cheering and clapping, waiting in earnest for him to even whisper a word. Because they loved him. Because they appreciated him. The stage light focused on him and the screams grew in anticipation. He takes the microphone and the crowd is silent, there's an audible intake of breath, as he begins to sing.

Without you, the ground thaws, the rain falls, the grass grows.  
Without you, the seeds root, the flowers bloom, the children play.  
The stars gleam, the poets dream, the eagles fly, without you.  
The earth turns, the sun burns, but I die, without you.

The air was still, all that could be heard is the angelic voice of Kurt Hummel, no one dared to even breathe too loudly, nothing that could distract from the voice. But it was so much more than a voice. It was his heart, his mind, his life, his _everything. _Everything was inconsequential. Times of day, business meetings, schools, meals, nothing. The crowd were entranced, they couldn't move, because without that voice, they would surely die.

Without you, the breeze warms, the girl smiles, the cloud moves.  
Without you, the tides change, the boys run, the oceans crash.  
The crowds roar, the days soar, the babies cry, without you.  
The moon glows, the river flows, but I die, without you.

Then someone in the crowd, mounted the stage. He smoothed back his dark, curly hair, his eyes bright with emotion and microphone gripped tightly in his hand, a ring of daisies clipped around his wrist. They were singing together, as the crowd looked on in awe.

The world revives—  
Colors renew—  
But I know blue, only blue, lonely blue, within me blue.

Without you.  
Without you, the hand gropes, the ear hears, the pulse beats.  
Without you, the eyes gaze, the legs walk, the lungs breathe.

The mind churns!  
The mind churns!  
The heart yearns!  
The heart yearns!

They were so close, their eyes and hands entwined, their souls laid out for the crowd to see, to _feel._

The tears dry, without you.  
Life goes on, but I'm gone.  
'Cause I die, without you.

Without you.  
Without you.  
Without you.

Kurt's eyes drifted open, and wished he could go back into his fantasy. There were no crowds, there was no stage and there was most definitely no Blaine. He was in his school library, no one would cheer him, and he was alone. Completely alone.

Blaine couldn't reach home quick enough. He ran to the bathroom, sticking his head under the tap and swelling it out with water, but nothing would rid him of the taste. He collapsed to the floor, panting, fingers gripping at the edge of the toilet bowl as he launched his face over it, regurgitating the taste. He felt dirty, disgusting, _cheap._ He threw off his clothes, putting the shower to it's fullest and hottest, before standing beneath it's cascade. He scrubbed himself fiercely, ridding himself of her touch. He sat down, tears streaking down his face. The water turned slowly from boiling to freezing and yet Blaine could not make himself move. Through his tears he whispered "'Cause I die, without you."

* * *

**Please tell me what you think! I really hope you enjoyed it, it's taking a slightly darker tone from now on, but still with the innocence of our boys.**

******I think this is still the right rating, please tell me if you disagree and I will change it ASAP. Also I'm English and writing in American-English sorry if I get any colloquialisms wrong!**

**love you lots 3**

**Next time: Blaine's father gets home and Kurt doesn't come home at all.**

**-S.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, see I'm on schedule now:3**_  
_

**Did anyone watch The Glee Project? I need someone to fangirl with.**

**hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

_Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock._

The house was very quiet when Burt Hummel came home from work, it was a Friday, which meant that he was an hour earlier than normal, so he decided that Kurt must have stayed at school to study, or gone to a friend's house. He checked his phone, Kurt always messaged him when he was changing his plans. He didn't have any new messages. The seconds ticked by and Burt got slowly more and more worried, in a town like Ohio, who knows what could have happened to his son. His openly gay, fashion-centered son. He took out his son's school file, searching through it desperately for the necessary sheet. School trips. Parent's night. Parking rules. Teacher contact sheet. Burt scrambled to his feet, taking the contact sheet with him and searching for his cell phone, he turned the sheet and started to type in the numbers, before touching the call button.

The ringing seemed to last forever and Burt cursed each tone, stuffing the sheets back into the file as a voice at the other end picked up. "Hello?" it said, crackling a little with the poor quality.

"Hi, is this Will Schuester?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"Burt Hummel, I'm Kurt's dad."

"Ah yes...is everything okay? Kurt's not in any kind of trouble is he?" the man sounded worried and Burt appreciated the fact that he actually cared, his son's description of him seemed accurate.

"Kurt hasn't come home yet and I was wondering if you have any idea why?" Silence. Burt's eyebrow quirked and he tried not to assume the worst, but it was hard. "Mr Schuester?"

"Are there any teachers that Kurt said he specifically liked?" his voice sounded urgent and Burt tried to force himself to think back.

"Just you and some English teacher, Mr Knight or something?"

"Mr Knightly?"

"That's the one."

"I'll call him and get him to help look, if I drive around town then I'll get him to search the school. I'll call the kids as well, see if they know where he is. Mr Hummel, could you stay at home in case he comes home?" Burt couldn't bear the idea that other people would be out searching for his son, whilst he was stuck in the house.

"No, I can't stay here knowing he could be out there somewhere. Could you get one of the kid's parents to come here?"

"Erm, there's Finn Hudson's Mom? She's a nurse and her boy seems pretty protective over Kurt, I'm sure they'd be happy to help. I can give you the number, if you want to call her?"

"That would be great, thanks," he said, glad the teacher hadn't protested against his wish to look for Kurt himself. He ripped a piece of paper off the bottom of some note on the table and started to scramble down the number. "I'll call her now...and Will, thank you."

"It's okay, Mr Hummel, I care about your son and I want to make sure he's safe."

"Call me if you find anything."

"I will." Burt hung up and started his second call of the night.

* * *

The traffic light turned red and Adam Knightly groaned, he was already late from work and it didn't help that he had to pick up James too, it felt like he was never going to get home. He could almost feel the ton of marking he had weighing down the back of his car. His phone began to buzz in his pocket and he took it out, looking at the screen. "Who is it?" asked James, peering over to glance at the screen.

"Will,"

"What does he want?"

"I don't know I haven't answered it yet," he pressed 'accept' and put the phone to his ear, just as the light turned green.

"What are you doing, you're driving!" James protested, but Adam just rolled his eyes.

"Hi, Will?" he said in askance.

"Hey Adam, where are you?"

"Heading home in the car with James, what's up?" there was a slight pause and Adam used it concentrate on his driving.

"You couldn't go back to school could you?" he asked tentatively, the other man tried not to groan.

"Why?"

"Kurt's gone missing and I was wondering if you could search the school for him, we haven't called the police yet, we want to check he's not just at a friend's house or something first. I thought you were a good choice because, well you know why," Adam couldn't believe what he was hearing, he knew what the school was like and he hoped to God the boy was just at a friend's, because some of the alternative possibilities weren't so nice. He had reversed into a drive and turned around before he even knew what he was doing."So can you go?"

"I'm already on my way." He hung up and accelerated, it wouldn't take him long to get to McKinley. A bewildered James stared at him.

"Where the hell are we going?" he asked.

"You know the boy I told you about?" he asked and James paused, thinking.

"The gay one?"

"...he's gone missing."

* * *

Burt was pacing by the door, flipping his phone in his hands when the door bell went. He pulled open the door letting in a dark haired woman and her awkwardly tall son. "Hi, I'm Carole and this is Finn," she said, indicating the boy.

"Thank you so much for doing this, call me if he comes here and I'll call you if I hear anything from the others," he said, throwing her the key and taking his own car keys out, pausing slightly to look at her.

"It's fine, go find him!" with that Burt shut the door and ran to his car, jumping in and starting up the engine. Although he wasn't completely sure where he was going to go, or that he wanted to find what he was looking for. His fingers kept brushing over his phone, occasionally his desperation left him thinking that he had felt it vibrate and yet when he searched the screen there was nothing.

* * *

Adam pulled into the school parking lot, parking roughly across three spaces. The car had hardly stopped before he was throwing open the door and slamming it shut, James ran after him to the doors, where Adam was now banging his fists against it, growling at the locked doors.

"There's got to be a back way? A fire escape with a push and lock door, maybe?" asked James, tentatively and Adam nodded, running around to the side door and trying to push that instead.

"Fat lot of good that did," he groaned, impatience and worry etched into every word. James took out his credit card and slipped it between the two doors, after a small click the doors swung open. Adam flung his arms around James and kissed him, briefly but passionately.

"I knew there was a reason I married you."

"...I love you, too," answered James, rolling his eyes.

Adam grabbed his hand, pulling him through the dark corridors, peeking through each classroom door desperately. He couldn't see Kurt anywhere. He sighed, rubbing his eyes in frustration. "Where does he spend a lot of time? Where would he hide?" asked James, trying his best to probe his husband into some kind of realization.

"Maybe the choir room, he's in Glee...I see him a lot in the library, too."

"So how about we check those places? Which one's closer?" Adam indicated a door up ahead, displaying an embellishment of the words 'The Library'. James squeezed his hand and the two of them slowly made their way towards the door, pulling it open, stepping in and flicking on the light.

"Kurt?" the teacher asked, letting James' hand go so they could wander separately between the rows of limited books.

"Adam? Adam, over here," called James, his voice higher than regular. Adam ran towards his husband's voice, stopping dead when he saw what he'd been called to. Kurt lay on the floor, surrounded by books, face worn and tear streaked, eyes closed in sleep. His chest rose and fell slowly, occasionally catching with a small whimper.

"Kurt?" Adam said gently, shaking the shoulder of his student. "Kurt wake up." The boy's eyes began to flicker and then filled with tears.

"Mr Knightly?" he whispered, his voice cracked and rough.

"Yeah, It's me Kurt," he reassured the boy. "Are you okay? Did anyone hurt you?" Kurt shook his head, opening his mouth but seeming unable to find the words to speak.

"What happened?" his teacher begged and Kurt looked up at him properly, deciding to try his best to explain, but still unable to get the words out. Adam looked down, grasping the boy's hand reassuringly and sitting next to him.

"You know, when I was a kid, I was even dorkier than I am now," he started and Kurt chuckled. "I never fit in with anyone, people looked down on me and thought I was disgusting or a loser. I spent way too many years caring what they thought, or how they acted. Then I left secondary school and I realized, that as much as it seems like the be all and end all of life, it's not. I got a scholarship to Columbia, moved to New York and met someone," he looked up at James and smiled. "I met the most wonderful person anyone could ever know, and I got married. I mean it might not be recognized even where we now _live_, but, hey, maybe some day."

"You're...gay?" Kurt asked, he'd assumed previously that his married teacher was straight, but knowing that someone like him had made it through reassured him.

"Yep," said Adam, jovially, his other hand gripping onto his husband's once more. "This is James."

Kurt looked up at the love between the two men and then, suddenly, he was talking, telling his teacher everything and the man just listened. Listened and understood. Kurt was in tears by the end, as were the two men.  
"You know there's nothing we can do, right?" asked Adam and Kurt nodded. "It's your word against theirs and no one's going to want to believe you, so they'll ignore it."  
"Life always has it's rough patches, as cliche as it may sound, but as long as you remember what you have and learn to appreciate that, then life all of a sudden looks brighter. There's this song that we like to sing together when one of us feels a bit rubbish, I don't know if that might help, Adam told me you were in Glee," said James, shrugging. Kurt's eyebrows were almost up to his hairline.  
"Wait, you sing?" he asked his teacher, curiously. Adam grinned, sheepishly.  
"I guess."  
"Pfft."  
"Shush you." Kurt couldn't help smiling at how adorable the two were.  
"You do the melody, I'll do the harmony," said James, and Adam nodded.

I wish you out of the woods  
And into a picture with me  
I wish you over the moon  
Come out of the question and be

Kurt was enthralled by the two men, their voices blended beautifully together. His teacher's voice was incredible, although unusual, it was somewhat very English sounding.

If this is gonna run 'round in my head  
I might as well be dreaming  
Run 'round in my head

I roller coaster for you  
Time out of mind must be heavenly  
It's all enchanted and wild  
Just like my heart said it was gonna be

Adam's eyes couldn't leave his husband's, they were chocolate brown, surrounded by tanned skin and dark brown hair; he was so beautiful. As the sang they smiled, this was their thing and they were sharing it with a boy who reminded them of their younger selves, represented their struggle.

If this is gonna run 'round in my head  
I might as well be dreaming  
Run 'round in my head

I wish you out of the woods  
And into the picture with me  
I wish you over the moon  
Come out of the question and be

If this is gonna run 'round in my head  
I might as well be dreaming  
Run 'round in my head

Kurt began to join in, his soft, high voice providing another layer to the song.

If this is gonna run 'round in my head  
I might as well be dreaming  
Run 'round in my head  
I might as well be dreaming  
Run 'round in my head  
I might as well be dreaming  
Run 'round in my head

If this is gonna run 'round in my head  
I might as well be dreaming  
Run 'round in my head

They finished and began to grin, but Kurt's smile quickly faded when he thought of his father. "I don't want my dad to know," he said, his voice and face determined. "We could just tell him that I was doing some extra work and I fell asleep. Please?" Adam and James shared a look before nodding.

"Okay," answered Adam, after a minute. "But we should probably call him now, he's going to be out of his mind with worry." The boy nodded and his teacher took out a cell phone and started to tap and press on it's touch screen surface.

"Hi, Mr Hummel? It's Adam Knightly, Kurt's English teacher. We found Kurt-"

"Is he okay?"

"He's absolutely fine, Mr Hummel. I'll pass you over to him to talk and then we'll drive him to your house."

"Before you go, Adam."

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"It's okay, sir, glad I could help." Adam passed the phone over to Kurt, who talked as they made their way out to the car park.

"Hi Dad," he said, noting down his address on a piece of paper and giving it to James.

"Kurt, thank God you're okay. What happened?" Kurt thought then about just telling him everything, but he knew he couldn't. Nothing could be done, there was no point stressing his Dad out about it too.

"I'm so, so sorry. I decided to go and research a project for Glee, but I fell asleep on the desk. Mr Knightly came in with his husband-"

"Wait, that Adam guy is gay?" Kurt heard his teacher chuckled a little as he got into the front seat of the car and Kurt made a mental note that the man could hear what was being said on the phone.

"Yes," he answered cautiously, praying he wouldn't say anything embarrassing.

"Well he seems like a nice guy, so I'm glad you have such a good role model, especially one who proves that you can find love and get married one day, where's he from?" Kurt could see Mr Knightly welling up a little in the front as they drew closer and closer to Kurt's house.

"He's English, but he moved here from New York, where he got married," the two men shared a glance, grinning at one another.

"That's great, Kurt. Now are you nearly home?"

"We'll just be a minute or so."

* * *

Blaine watched from his seat on his bedroom window seat as two cars pulled up, he sighed as the moonlight gleamed against the coiffed, brown hair of his next door neighbor. Blaine had dressed himself in a pair of pajama bottoms a vest and a hooded top, which were all slightly too big for him, he pressed the top to his face, breathing in the scent. They were Kurt's clothes that he'd left there and Blaine could never bear to return, they still smelled like Kurt and he was comforted by the familiarity. He couldn't believe what he'd put Kurt through, he knew he'd been protecting him in the ultimate, but there had to have been some other way. He pushed his hair back, stressed.

Blaine felt a lump form in his throat as Burt launched himself at his son, enveloping him in a hug, he noticed Mr Knightly and another man stood near by. They were holding hands, quite obviously in love. Blaine wished he had what they had, but even if Kurt did love him back, his father was a whole other matter. His eyes were drawn back to Kurt, laughing but still hurting. Blaine had done that too him. Those stunning blue eyes flicked up to his window, catching Blaine's for a second. Tears began to trickle down Blaine's face, he once again put his head into the top and took a deep breath in. Kurt's face switched to confusion, tilting adorably and scrunching slightly at the nose and eyebrows. Blaine shook his head, he couldn't do this, how was he supposed to keep pretending when he was giving in so much now? He took one last look at the boy he loved and left the window sill.

* * *

Kurt watched Blaine walk away, feeling the crack in his heart spread just that little bit more. But he was sure of what he'd seen. Blaine had been wearing his pajamas, Blaine has _sniffed_ his pajamas. He'd looked hopeless, as if everything was crashing down on him and there was no where left to hide. Kurt sighed, he wished it could be like it used to be, when they got upset and then they sat in bed, watched movies and fell asleep in each others arms, under a blanket covered in popcorn. But no, everything had changed and he didn't know what he'd done wrong.

A car pulled into the Anderson drive and the group turned, Burt's arm instantly fell around Kurt, protectively. Carole had come out, as had Finn, and the boy took his position around Kurt's other side, eyes narrowed. Adam, James and Carole, picked up on the change in the atmosphere, converging around Kurt, as a small, dark haired man stepped out of the car. Mr Anderson surveyed the scene, smirking and raising his eyebrow slightly, before walking to his own house.

"Let's go inside," said Burt, face wrinkled in disgust.

* * *

Blaine heard the front door shut and sighed, waiting for the hell that ensued. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and took it out curiously, it was Kurt. He opened it before he even had time to consider what it would do to his motivation to keep ignoring the boy, then began to smile.

**Kurt Hummel: **

**You can keep the pajamas, if you like.**

* * *

**a/n The song was Out of the Woods by Nickel Creek, a band that I personally love and recently found out Darren does too! I swear that man was made for me ;)**

**Thanks for reading and subscribing! ****If you have the time please leave a review as to whether you like it, long or short, it's nice to get some feedback, as those of you who are author's will know.**

**Next time: Blaine and his Dad have a (not-so) heart to heart.**

**Love you!**

**-S.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, you're amazing if you're reading this. ENJOY!**

**For anyone who received their end of years/GCSEs/A-Levels or whatever, WELL DONE:3**

* * *

Heavy footsteps sounded up the stairs and Blaine quickly hid his phone, there was no way his Dad was getting hold of that. He picked up a book and pretended to read, waiting for his Dad's entry with baited breath. Mr Anderson kicked open the door, a cocky smile curving his lips and his eyebrows arched. Blaine lowered the book to look at him, trying to hide his revulsion.

"What do you want?" he asked, settling for verging on civility. The eyebrows raised even higher and the smile turned into a smirk. Blaine wished he could cut off those stupid eyebrows, so he could never make that face again - it would assist, at very least, in his attempts not to hit his own father.

"I saw that fag outside again," he said casually and Blaine's muscles tightened – hearing his own father talk about Kurt like that was somehow worse than when the jocks said the same.

"What about him?"

"He looked upset," Blaine knew exactly what his Dad was doing, he was trying to get him to react, to shout at him, to prove once and for all that he was gay. And that pissed Blaine off more than anything. He kept himself calm, deferring to the situation as if it was a play .

"I guess it's to be expected." He hated what he was saying. He hated this. He hated his Dad. He hated himself.

"You're right, he's pathetic." There was a pause.

"Is that all you wanted?" Blaine asked, trying not to let his character break, but failing miserably.

Mr Anderson carefully surveyed his son, he knew that Blaine was close to breaking and he enjoyed watching the facade crack. "How's your girlfriend?" The boy almost visibly twitched at the mention of the word.

"Laura's fine," he answered through gritted teeth, wanting to curl up and cry at the thought of her.

"You should invite her around for lunch soon, how's, say, Sunday?" Blaine's stomach churned at the idea of being in a room with two of the people he hated most of all, but he knew it wasn't really an offer that could be denied.

"Yeah, I'm sure that will be fine," he answered, desperate to make the man leave.

"Okay, I'll leave you to it then." Blaine nodded, waiting for the door to close and then breathing a sigh of relief. He would wait to call Laura tomorrow, for now he would just curl up in Kurt's pajamas and try to sleep.

Sleep didn't last long enough. It was all too soon that he was getting up, washing his body, that seemed forever stained with her touch. He looked around his room, it was larger than most people's he knew, stretching across half of the top floor of his house so he had a view into both the back yard and the front. It was so big and yet so...empty. Ever since he had taken down the posters and decorations that he and Kurt had put up, it just didn't seem like his any more, the bland walls and nondescript furniture could belong to a hotel room. It felt like the story of his life, with Kurt everything was enjoyable, meaningful. Without him it was a shell, it wasn't his life. It wasn't what he wanted his life to be.

Blaine put his head against the cool window, staring out into the garden. He could remember when he first met Kurt, the strange boy in his new garden who climbed up to his window to talk to him. The two of them then sat, shoulder to shoulder, as Kurt taught him to make daisy chains. Blaine smiled, rubbing his eyes free of the moisture that was gathering. He remembered when it had been Kurt's birthday and Kurt's dad had helped him to surprise his best friend with a picnic (everything was low fat of course). Kurt had come outside – Blaine's hands tight around his eyes, so he couldn't peak – the two of them were giggling furiously, he had released Kurt's vision and the boy had hugged him tight, squealing that he'd even managed to get the classic red and white blanket. The two had laughed and smiled, ending up throwing most of the food at each other, much to Kurt's initial distaste ("Blaine, do you know how long it took me to find this? It's limited edition Marc Jacobs!"). The laughter echoed in his head and as it began to dim, his smile started to fade. But those weren't his memories any more. And they most definitely weren't his future.

His fingers grasped tighter around his phone, breaking the illusion further. He scrolled through his contact, finding Laura and sighing heavily before pressing call. If anything could shatter the effects of those memories, it was his _girlfriend._ She was quick to pick up, her voice a little strained.

"Blaine?" She breathed.

"Hey, Laura," he answered, trying to animate his voice as much as possible.

"I'm so glad you called me, I was worried after the whole thing with yesterday," she paused, evidently horribly regretting bringing it up.

"No, I'm sorry, I was acting a bit off with you," he lied, he knew she'd lap it up simply enough. "I just wondered if you were free tomorrow at about one?"

"Sure," Laura replied, slightly too quickly.

"Cool, well, would you like to come to lunch at mine tomorrow and meet my..." His sentence trailed off, as the vision started again. Except, this time it was no memory, the porcelain pale boy really was outside, wandering about his garden idly. Blaine's head fell back onto the glass, breathing heavily until he could no longer see through the glass due to the fog.

"Blaine?"

"To meet my parents," he finished, coughing a little. Trying to keep his eyes focused away from the brown hair that gleams so nicely in the sunlight and the blue eyes that dance around the garden, a certain beautiful sadness in them evident even from this distance.

"Yeah, I'd love to," her voice was sharp and she was obviously irritated by Blaine's inability to concentrate on her, even if she didn't know what it was that was distracting him so completely. He thought about her resentment, decided he didn't care, and hung up.

* * *

Mr Knightly was right. There was nothing he could do about Blaine, but he had to wonder, after having seen him the night before, whether there was something more to his sudden aversion to Kurt. Maybe he was just trying to convince himself that it was anything but the truth, that Blaine wasn't comfortable with Kurt's sexuality. That he thought he was a 'freak' for it. Kurt bit his lip and pinched the bridge of his nose, his new strategy for stopping himself from getting over emotional.

Burt's head popped around the back door and Kurt managed to pull himself together, to look normal for his dad. "What's up?"

"What you doing out here?" he asked, watching Kurt – whose fingers seemed to be subconsciously chaining together the daisies around him. The boy looked down at his hands, dropped the beginnings of a bracelet and coughed, self-consciously.

"Just...getting a bit of fresh air." Burt nodded, understanding the unsaid. Kurt wanted to be near Blaine, near the good memories that he'd once shared with the boy he loved. But him understanding, didn't mean that it was a good idea.

"Well, I'm going to Carole's," he said, gruffly. Kurt's head flicked up, his eyes bright and inquisitive.

"As in Mrs Hudson? Finn's mom?" a smile was starting to spread across his face.

"Yes, erm...to thank her for helping yesterday I told her I would help with her car for free," he answered, as if there was no more to the situation than that, Kurt was grinning even more now.

"Of course, that's _all_ that's happeni-"

"Still," Burt interrupted. "I would prefer if you would stay inside, just, after...yesterday." Kurt nodding, understanding that his Dad was still on edge from the day before, and that was without knowing the full extent of the situation.

Kurt nodded, his eyes flicking up toward Blaine's room and catching the glint of a silver bracelet, their eyes met once more and Kurt thought he could sense the loneliness behind them. It held much longer than the previous day, neither wanted to relinquish this reestablished contact, to go back to how it had been over the last week. Kurt was confused, he recognized the bracelet, it had been a present from Kurt himself. What was going on? The pajamas and now the bracelet. If Blaine hated him so much, why was he wearing things that were reminiscent of him. Kurt shook his head, breaking eye contact and ruffling up his hair in frustration, before going inside.

* * *

Blaine groaned, throwing his phone at the wall and hitting his hands against the window. Why couldn't he just leave it? He couldn't talk to Kurt any more and the more he ignored that, the less resistance he had to not do it again. Unwittingly, the boy was dissipating Blaine's ability to keep himself, his mom and Kurt safe. He exhaled heavily as he fell back against his bed, he was going to savor the time he had on his own, because tomorrow was going to be hell.

It seemed like minutes before the next day had dawned and the doorbell was ringing, he wished he could rip the damn thing off the wall and throw it at the girl pressing it. Blaine looked down at himself and the clothes that his mother had set aside for him to wear, he was still wearing pajamas and he really wished he didn't have to take them off. He'd decided to stop wearing Kurt's since they were starting to lose the smell of him and be replaced by his own. He took off his clothes, putting on his now crumpled shirt and jeans, he remembered Kurt explaining to him that the mix of the two made it "smart-casual".

"_Blaine, I said a shirt," chided Kurt lightly, as he looked fondly at Blaine._

"_This is a shirt!" whined Blaine, his face utterly baffled, Kurt rolled his eyes._

"_Yeah, a __**polo **__shirt," he laughed, his face scrunching up adorably as he began to search through Blaine's wardrobe, who just lay back against his bed, giving up on dress-codes all together._

"_Why wear a shirt and jeans together? I mean I'd get it if the shirt was patterned and fun and the jeans were...I don't know, red or something. But the jeans __**and **__the shirt are both so boring."_

"_It's smart-casual, that's what you do. You can't wear anything too flamboyant..." Kurt looked at Blaine, and Blaine looked at Kurt, they both burst out laughing. Blaine was laughing so hard he fell off the bed, and that only made them laugh harder._

Blaine smiled at the memory, realized he was just standing in the middle of his room grinning and made his way down stairs. His expression changed as soon as he saw Laura. His father was complimenting her, his mother shaking her hand fondly. Of course they liked her, she was a girl. Her blue eyes and brown hair were both shining in the light, Blaine knew why he'd picked her. Apart from having had an obvious crush on him since they'd started, he thought her looks would make it easier. Her pale skin, her eye and hair color, if Kurt was a girl, the two of them would not look too dissimilar, although Kurt would be much better looking, of course. His father looked up at him, an eyebrow quirked as if he had noticed the similarity between his son's girlfriend and best friend. Blaine still called Kurt his best friend, because even if he didn't deserve to call him by that title, he couldn't bear to admit he'd destroyed their friendship.

"Blaine," said Laura, her smile sweet but her eyes suggestive. Blaine hated that expression, it was the expression she'd used before she'd touched him. He controlled his emotions, forcing his face into looking happy.

"Laura," he grinned, jumping down the last few stairs toward her. She hugged him and he tried not to recoil, which became even harder when she gave him a peck on the lips. His eyes glanced to the satisfied look on his father's face and he took her hand, leading her into the dining room – as long as he was happy, everyone was safe.

* * *

"SHUT UP," Blaine wished he could shout those words, force them down his father's throat until his silence reigned supreme. But he said nothing, he just let the man continue; his obnoxious, false laugh booming out throughout the house.

"We thought Blaine would never get a girlfriend," drawled Mr Anderson, as he waved his fork around. Blaine was thankful that he didn't really like the girl, because otherwise he would be even more embarrassed. "But I can see that he was just waiting for such a girl as you." Laura blushed crimson and Blaine nearly threw up. There was something his father wanted from the girl, there was no way he was just being that nice for no reason.

Blaine looked to his mom, she looked so uncomfortable, she always did around his father after that night. He'd hardly talked to her, but he could see the pain in her eyes whenever she looked at him. He closed his eyes, counting up to ten in his head in an attempt to calm himself down. The main course consisted mostly of the light conversation between Mr Anderson and Laura, with Blaine dipping in occasionally. More jokes were made at Blaine's lack of girlfriend as well as more inappropriate (and yet heavily disguised ones) considering his 'lack of action'.

"Well I'm going to sort out the dessert," Mr Anderson announced and his son stared at him curiously, the man never volunteered to do anything himself, unless he had some kind of ulterior motive. "You couldn't give me a hand could you Laura?" Oh, there's the ulterior motive. Blaine's eyes grew clouded, he wasn't sure that he should let this happen, but the smirk in his father's eyes told him there was nothing he could do. He gritted his teeth, as the two of them headed to the kitchen.

Blaine turned to his mom and a new fear filled him, she hadn't spoken at all since they'd sat down, usually she was quiet, but not this quiet. "Mom?" he whispered, keeping an eye out for the other two. She ignored him, his brow furrowed. "Mom, are you okay?" She shook her head fractionally, Blaine's heart was quickening. What the hell was going on? "What's wrong?" Once again she shook her head. "He's not coming back yet, just tell me," this time she looked toward the door a little, as if double checking his word, when she seemed satisfied she began to speak.

"I...I..." she paused. "I'm not feeling very well," she finished and Blaine huffed.

"That's bullshit. Just tell me...please?" Her mask cracked a little as he pleaded with her.

"He told me not to talk when we got in here," she started, her voice low and shaky. "He wanted to talk to Laura and didn't want me to give her any ideas."

"Ideas? What are you talking about?" he asked, confusion taking center stage over his worry.

"He wants you two to stay together, he thinks it's my fault that you're..." she shrugged, as if to say 'well, you know' and Blaine sighed, he knew his mom loved him, but he also knew that she would tell his dad what he said.

"Mom, I have a girlfriend, I'm straight. Glee was just a joke with some guys," he reassured her, cursing every false word that came out of his mouth. She nodded, frowning a little and the two of them waited in silence

* * *

Laura smiled as the two of them entered the kitchen, Mr Anderson was what her friends liked to refer to as a 'DILF'. He was taller than Blaine and more tan, with muscly arms and dark, suggestive eyes. She decided that he must be around forty, but the age had definitely done him well. She'd been fond of Blaine for a while, but that didn't mean she wasn't open to anyone else. Besides, Blaine wasn't as eager as most of the people she dated. She pulled up her already short skirt and pulled down the front of her top to show more cleavage. This was her chance.

Mr Anderson turned suddenly, pinning her against the wall and leaning his head down to hers, she spread her legs, so her feet were either side of his. "So, Laura," he whispered, pushing further against her. "I hope you and Blaine are being_ safe_," he tucked her hair behind her ear, carefully, as she stared deep into his eyes, not even able to comprehend how odd a question it was.

"We're not...we haven't even..." she broke off, moaning in pleasure. "We've pretty much only kissed," she finished, her breath heavy.

"Oh," he quirked his eyebrow. "Have you not tried?" Laura's mind flashed back to the time in library, when Blaine had been too disgusted by the boy in front of them, for it to go anywhere. But she decided not to mention it.

"Not yet..."

"Maybe you should," he cut in, his voice low and teasing. "And maybe you could get his little homo stalker to leave him alone, too." She smiled, her hands teasing around the edge of his pants.

"I'm sure I could," she whispered, before kneeling to the floor.

* * *

Kurt Hummel had been walking between the two houses when he'd turned and caught sight of a scarring image, he now sat beneath the Anderson window, hands over his mouth, trying not to throw up. He heard everything the two had whispered to each other through the open window, but didn't know what to do. There was no way that Blaine would believe him, he couldn't tell anyone at school and that had left him one thing, he really didn't want to do. Confront her himself.

* * *

**Thanks so much for reading, because of the results I haven't done as much writing as I might have like to, so don't freak out if it takes a little longer to update!**

**Hope you're enjoying, please tell me what you think!  
Also, I'm not sure if I should change the rating to M, because I never planned for there to be so many reference to sex in here:/  
So please tell me if it's okay or not!**

**love you lots!  
**

**-S.**


	8. Chapter 8

You have no idea how sorry I am.

I thought I'd updated it, but it turned out I'd only put it in docs.

Please read it though, love you all!

* * *

Kurt watched Laura from a distance, his eyes suspicious. He couldn't work out what her plan was, from what he had heard beneath the window she wanted to scare him off and get her and Blaine to do more than what they'd done thus far. He wondered why she hadn't told Mr Anderson about the two of them in the library, that had certainly been more than kissing, and why did Blaine's dad care so much anyway? His head was swimming with an innumerable amount questions, but very few answers. He sighed, opening his locker and exchanging some of his books, he wished Blaine would just talk to him. None of his story added up, he'd been doing fine for popularity before he started acting as if he hated Kurt, so what had changed? He'd gotten a bitch of a girlfriend who'd had a conversation with Blaine's dad about getting rid of –. Kurt gasped. That was it. The way his father had converged around him when the man had walked past, why he wouldn't let him go visit Blaine after he broke his nose, why Mr Anderson was asking Blaine's girlfriend to deter him, or as the man had put it Blaine's 'little homo stalker'. He was a massive homophobe who didn't want his son to be best friends with a gay boy. He nearly hit himself in the head it was so obvious.

Why didn't Blaine tell him? Just call him up and say "my dad says we can't be friends". A little voice in the back of his head answered him. _Because you'd never let it go, you'd fight for him. If he acted as if he hated you then you'd let him go, because it would be what he wanted. _Kurt huffed, it made sense. He looked up seeing Blaine walking by himself, he looked broken, his hand was playing with something on his wrist. He was still wearing the bracelet and yet now Kurt only felt relief rather than the confusion that had surrounded him before. Kurt's lips twitched in annoyance as he watched Laura join Blaine, her fingers laced into his, lifting his hand into plain view and raising her eyebrow delicately.

"What's this?" she asked, her voice deadly sweet, her other hand clenching in obvious distaste.

"Nothing," Blaine said, averting his eyes slightly. She lifted his hand towards her face and read the inscription.

"_Blaine Anderson, _what's it for, in case you forget your name?" she laughed, venom in her voice. Blaine's eyes grew clouded and his expression stony, Laura flipped it over and her nails dug slightly into his skin. "_My Best Friend,_" she read, putting on a childish voice. Blaine ripped his hand from her grip and stalked off, Laura turned, furious and glared at Kurt, before her expression turned to a smirk and she followed her boyfriend.

* * *

Kurt attempted to avoid everyone for the rest of the day, resorting to spending his lunch in the English classroom with Mr Knightly. The man raised his eyebrows at Kurt, as the two of them sat there in silence, but the boy still said nothing. He wasn't sure that he wouldn't open his mouth and not be able to shut it, he wanted to tell someone of his revelations, yell them to the school. He wanted to run and hug Blaine, tell him that he didn't care if his Dad didn't like him, that the man would just have to deal with it. Or even that they should continue to be friends, just in secret.

"Kurt, if you're not going to talk to me, why are you here?" asked Mr Knightly curiously, a touch of humor in his voice. Kurt looked up at him, his blue eyes sad and just shrugged. Adam's face grew somber there was something going on that the boy wasn't telling him, if he wasn't in here to talk to him, then...

"Who are you hiding from?" Kurt's head turned so quickly, that his teacher could hear his neck crick, his eyes were alarmed, but not yet defensive. "Kurt, I care about you, you know I do. Who is it?"

"There's nothing you can do," he answered, but Adam could see the deliberation in his face.

"Maybe not, but It's better than keeping it to yourself." The boy nodded, awkwardly and visibly started to muster up enough courage to say it.

"Laura." Mr Knightly shrugged, he had been expecting it to be some jock or other, but he could understand why Kurt would want to avoid the girl.

"Any _particular_ reason?"

"I think you know why," the boy snapped and his teacher raised an eyebrow. "Sorry."

"It's okay, I get it...but it's just Friday, right?" he asked, sensing a missing piece.

"_Just_," muttered Kurt, scathingly.

"I didn't mean it like that and you know it, Kurt I'm trying to help you, don't shut me out."

"I know, alright?" he huffed, exasperatedly. "And I'm...I'm sorry."

Kurt was done, all the holding it in was gone and his teacher just watched him crumple, it made him feel so helpless, this boy's life was falling apart and all he could do was stand and stare. He stood up, pushing the desks out of the way and lifting the boy into a hug, Kurt clasped at him desperately, his body shaking – his legs gave out and Adam was left supporting the two of them entirely. He picked the boy up and took him over to his chair, seating him there, but Kurt wasn't letting go, everything was moving and he was holding onto one of the few things that had been constant. His chest ached from the crying and yet he couldn't stop, Mr Knightly shushed him, patting his back reassuringly.

Kurt sniffed, pulling back and wiping his eyes, avoiding his teacher's face, embarrassed by his own outburst and Adam just laughed, smiling fondly. "I'm so..."

"Don't be, you shouldn't be apologetic for expressing your feelings, too many people bottle up how they feel and it destroys them, corrupts them," he interrupted, sincerely.

"Deep," Kurt joked, giving a watery smile.

"What can I say, I'm an English teacher," he grinned. "I spend my life reading over the top inspirational words, what else am I supposed to say?" Their laughter dissolved into quiet and Mr Knightly quirked an eyebrow, curiously. "So...?"

"So, what?" the boy teased, laughing when his teacher rolled his eyes. "I don't think Blaine hates me," he said, thoughtfully.

"Neither do I," shrugged Mr Knightly, gesturing for Kurt to continue.

"There's just little things, like when you dropped me home on Friday, I could see him in his bedroom and he was wearing the pajamas I left there when we had a sleepover and just this morning he was wearing this bracelet that I gave him a while back," he glanced conspiratorially towards the door and his teacher chuckled a little. "I heard his Dad talking to Laura...well that's not all her mouth was doing."

"You mean she.." he pulled a face and Kurt nodded, shuddering slightly at the memory, his teacher looked as if he wanted to throw up.

"But before that, he said something, he told her that she should try and get Blaine's 'creepy homo stalker' to leave him alone," Mr Knightly nodded, cautiously. "The two things together, I thought that maybe..."

"You thought that Blaine's dad might have banned him from talking to you because you're gay and he's an asshole," he finished and Kurt giggled.

"Something like that," he shrugged and his teacher paused, considering it.

"Well, it would seem to make sense," and the boy grinned happily. "But, Kurt, you can't pin your hopes on this, if it's not true then it's going to crush you." Kurt nodded, trying to hide his smile.

Kurt left the classroom about five minutes after the bell, he had Glee practice and Mr Schue wouldn't mind. Mr Knightly watched him walk away and sighed, one day everything would be better for Kurt, he was just going to have to go through hell first.

Kurt sighed, walking slowly through the deserted halls and smiling slightly at the ground. The first thing he heard were foot steps behind him, then something pushed him face first to the floor. He didn't have time to stick out his hands, so he just turned his head, his cheekbone colliding painfully with the floor. There was a quick intake of breath, before his head was grasped and he was pulled to his feet. "Sorry, _lady_," said a voice in his ear and the laughter echoed behind, they dragged him along, throwing him roughly into the locker rooms. Kurt tried to scream, but his throat was dry and no sound came out. One hand held him against the wall, another drew some kind of gel on his eyes, his eyes fluttered against the pressure. The hands supporting him dropped and he crashed to the floor, uncomfortably, feeling his ankle twist from the awkward landing.

Breath was heavy on his neck and for a moment he was paralyzed by terror, before his senses came to life. He tried to stand, but his incapacitated leg landed him flat on his face. Laughter echoed behind him, as he tried to drag away, before their rough hands pulled him up and pushed him into the cold lockers – knocking the wind out of him. For the first time he got a full on view of his attackers, there were two of them and they were both wearing the WMHS sports kit, with hoods pulled over their heads, the taller of the two took out a yellow-brown rag and shoved it in Kurt's mouth. The locker door was shut on him and his eyes attempted to adjust to the dark. There was no space to turn in his cage, it wasn't wide and it's depth was reminiscent of a frying pan; a little light filtered through the grates and a fractured image of the room. He tried to close his eyes and panicked – he couldn't. His arms were constrained to his sides and his leg throbbed painfully, everything was stuck and he was starting to think it was a little more literal for his eye lids. He thought of the gel they'd put on his face and sighed into the gag. He thanked everything he had that he wasn't claustrophobic, because the constricted space was already testing him.

Kurt tried to scream through the gag, but it was impossible, he just inhaled a lot of dust and cloth. His arms lay trapped behind his back, the hook at the top pressed painfully in between his shoulder blades. The boy's leg was achy and throbbing, he tried to sit down, but he found that it was yet another thing that his confines would not allow.

* * *

Blaine sat at his desk, frowning slightly at his math substitute as she scratched out algebra on to the board, his eyes flicked to the empty seat in front of the teacher's desk. He dragged his eyes back from where Kurt should have been sitting, feeling the boy's absence pulling at his chest. He missed his best friend, not just because he loved him, but he simply missed having someone who knew how he really was, someone he didn't have to pretend in front of. It was exhausting being around Laura, pretending that he was into her and acting as if he didn't like watching romantic comedies and flicking through vogue. He had to kiss her, had to surrender everything he wanted to share with Kurt, for her to trample over. Blaine sighed, ruffling his hair up slightly, as he considered the clock. He counted down the minutes until the bell rang, his mind on Kurt the whole time, he left the class, his head down and thoughts engaged and started to head towards his next class. He felt two hands grasp his waist from behind and turned to see Laura, her eyes screaming sensual. She entwined her fingers into his and started to pull him away, her eyes fixated on the door ahead a smirk fixed on her face.

Kurt had given up on anyone coming into help him, it felt like he'd been in there for days, but he knew that in reality it had probably been there for just an hour or two. The locker was no longer cold – it was stifling. He thought he might pass out soon due to the humidity and was grateful for his proximity to the grates, although what with the gag, it made very little difference. At least he had some light. He felt the sweat slip down his forehead and wished he could just reach up and wipe it away, but instead he just had to feel it slide slowly across his skin – now he thought could understand how horrific Chinese water torture must be. He was trying to avoid thinking about his eyes, thinking about them just made them sting that bit more. His cheeks were stained in tear tracks, but his tear ducts seemed to have run dry for the moment, although his vision was still slightly blurred over.

The door slammed open and a light in Kurt's head flicked on, he tried desperately to make some kind of noise – but it was hopeless, he would just have to hope that whoever they were, they weren't going to make the situation worse. He heard a giggle and a confused grunt, before the two people that he least wanted to walk into the room were standing in front of his captive locker.

"Laura, you can't be in here...I shouldn't be in here.." Blaine said, uncomfortably, as he turned to look at the door as if he wished someone would just barge through it. Laura giggled, pulling him closer to her and throwing her arms around his neck. Real tears formed in Kurt's eyes, as he watched Blaine flinch at her touch, repulsion filling his honey eyes.

"Shh, you think too much. Relax, no one's gonna find us," she captured his bottom lip in her teeth, pushing him down onto the bench, as he halfheartedly returned the kiss.

"Laura, no...not here," he protested and Kurt wanted to throw up, as she kept going, ignoring Blaine's wishes.

Kurt turned his head as far as he could, trying desperately to close his eyes, but knowing it was hopeless. Blaine continued to protest and Kurt wished he could close his ears. He felt so helpless, he tried hitting his head against the locker door, but there was not enough space for it to make a decent sound, the muffled sounds that were made were hidden by the converse.

"Blaine, don't worry, baby," she said sweetly, her hands caressing him slowly, her hands grasped his belt pulling it open and unzipping his flies, pressing her lips to his stomach. He looked at her, his expression conflicted. This was a line he was not willing to cross, but was it worth destroying the pretense, everything that he had worked for?

"Yes," he answered out loud and she paused, looking up at him hope in her eyes.

"I knew you'd..."

"No," he said, quickly, before she could start again. "I don't want to.."

"You...you what?" her face was furious, but she didn't move.

"Get off," he said, his voice low and controlled.

"Blaine?" she hadn't moved.

"I said get off."

Kurt's breathing became yet shallower. He continued to hit his head against the locker, hoping that in the gap between the two of them talking, he might be heard.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME," Blaine yelled, losing it completely. "I don't want this and I don't want you. Laura. I'm not ready, so just let me be." Laura didn't move, she seemed frozen in place a look of disbelief and horror frozen on her face. The silence hung heavy and Kurt redoubled his effort, convinced he was going to give himself brain damage if he kept at it. Blaine's head tilted, confusion alighting in his eyes.

"What's that?" he asked, his voice back to a normal volume, but the anger remained behind.

"I don't know what you're talking about," inside the locker Kurt's heart lifted and he kept going, trying to make some kind of noise through his gag. "I don't hear any–"

"DON'T LIE TO ME," he shouted, getting up, doing up the front of his pants and his belt, before looking desperately around the room.

"Hello? Is someone in there?" he asked, his eyebrows creasing into a line.

"Blaine, stop being ridiculous..." she tried to reach out to him, but he pushed her away.

"Who is it?" he asked, but she just shook her head. "Where are they?" before she could stop herself he eyes traveled toward Kurt's locker and Blaine followed her gaze, crossing the room and flicking the catch. Kurt fell into Blaine, his body crumpling and going limp. Blaine picked the other boy up, taking him to the bench and removing the gag, watching in horror as Kurt coughed hideously.

"Kurt?" he whispered, pushing the boy's hair back and feeling the burn of his forehead. "Are you okay?"

"Fantastic," said Kurt sarcastically, through his coughing fits, and Blaine chuckled. "You?" He just shrugged, then realized that he was stroking Kurt's head and lowered his hand, coughing a little himself.

"I missed you," Kurt said, quietly, glancing up at the honey colored eyes.

"I missed you, too," Blaine replied, blushing gently. Laura scoffed and the two of the turned, having almost forgotten her presence.

"I knew it," she said, venom on her tongue.

"Get out," Blaine said, his voice fairly level.

"You're disgusting."

"Me? I'm disgusting?" Blaine yelled, incredulously. "You knew, didn't you?" she said nothing. "Huh, you disgust _me_.." he stood, anger pulsing through his veins.

"Blaine, no!" Kurt grabbed Blaine's arm in restraint and the boy calmed visibly under his touch. "Go Laura, just go." The girl looked at the two of them, spat on the floor and left, slamming the door behind her. Blaine tried not to think of what the rest of the school would say, never mind his father.

* * *

The next one won't be so long, I promise!

Any constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated:)

Love you all, not too much left now..

-S.


End file.
